It is summer yet we experience heavy downpour oftentimes at night.
Early dawn’s drizzles refreshes our day and a great season for creepy creatures crawling on trees, twigs, leaves and stems.
One fine morning my son Kenjo had a very early biking session in our backyard.
But he stumbled over a pile of gravel and his bike hit a Guavano tree.
Several brown tiny pellets and creepy green “worms” fell on him.
“Mamaa! Come here! Look! There are many green worms at Guavano tree!”
Well I am thankful to the creepy green earthlings because Kenjo forgot his painful arms and legs.
So we decided to inspect the leaves and discovered more than three dozens not just worms but caterpillars.
I told Kenjo that when its the season for caterpillars, birds are also on its hatching stage and there will be more food for the birdlings.
But Kenjo is excited to witness the transformation of ugly and creepy caterpillars into beautiful and colorful butterflies.
“I hope birds will not discover this tree,” says Kenjo who has some other plans to protect the caterpillars.
Later I saw him bringing more old newspapers coupled with a basket of laundry clips and his going towards the Guavano tree.
“You are up to something little boy, care to share with Mama?”
“Hmmm… just want to cover the tree so birds will not eat the caterpillars.”
So its time to explain to Kenjo the food cycle yet I know he only digested some of what I am sharing as he tried to cover the lower portion of the tree.
“Kenjo if you are going to cover the tree, it will die so with all the caterpillars there, they need sunlight to survive that aided their growth and they need the green leaves to store more food before they hide themselves in a cocoon.”
I showed to him the leaves they have eaten and the brown “tiny pellets” manure they excreted to produce more silk for cocoon.
“A couple of them will get lucky to become butterfly, so right now, lets leave their fate to nature.”
Kenjo was somehow convince.
The next day Kenjo visited the tree and shouted again “Mama there’s no more caterpillars!.”
Caterpillars are gone except for little brownish worms, “but I showed him great number of cocoons.”
“They are already hiding.”
“Probably they heard my warnings yesterday,” Kenjo claims feeling more like a hero to the caterpillars.
