The wax coating on the fruit is indigestible for most birds, but a few species have adapted to be able to eat it, notably the yellow-rumped warbler and tree swallow in North America. As the wax is very energy-rich, this enables the yellow-rumped warbler to winter further north in cooler climates than any other American warbler if bayberries are present. The seeds are then dispersed in the birds' droppings. "Myrica" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail, emperor moth, and winter moth as well as the bucculatricid leaf-miners "Bucculatrix cidarella", "B. myricae" (feeds exclusively on "M. gale") and "B. paroptila" and the "Coleophora" case-bearers "C. comptoniella", "C. pruniella", and "C. viminetella".