“…The larvae of all species of conifer‐feeding budworms when they start to feed are flush feeders on buds and new growth, but if they mine old needles before bud flush they first become senescence‐feeders and later flush feeders: they become “double‐dippers” (White, ). Having hibernated mostly in the crown of the trees where the eggs were laid, the following spring they leave their hibernacula and commence feeding on old needles (McGugan, ), sometimes for weeks (Nealis, ), mining them selectively to eat only the mesophyll that contains the highest level of nitrogen, thus providing them with “… sustenance in the midst of privation.” (Tier & Mattson, ), but this sustenance may still not be sufficient to enable more than a few of these larvae to survive, especially when they emerged weeks before bud‐burst. And just how important the ability to access these old needles can be to the success of these neonate larvae is illustrated by their failure to survive on host species whose needles they are unable to feed on (Fuentealba, Sagne, Pureswaran, Bauce, & Despland, ).…”