The caterpillars seemed to be dead, as you can see in the second picture where I've breached the tent.
Colony of black and yellow catterpillars with long hairs. Distinguishable because of their social behavior, and their nest in an alder tree. The nest resembles a white club with many black spots (feces), that is wrapped around a branch of the tree. In this case, the tree was an alder, which means the area needed to be open with almost full sun. The caterpillars construct many rooms inside the tent, which are carefully alligned to have varying relative temperatures. Some peoplle consider it a pest because they will eat the leaves of the tree.
fuzzy caterpillar at the black river riparian forest
I found a type of red caterpillar's nest located on the branch of a what appeared to be some sort of rose. The caterpillar was very small, and a sort of orangish color, on the tent like structure made out of layers of silk.
This little guy undulates very quickly across my brother's hand. You have to get a magnifying glass to really observe this one because its so tiny. It has a ton of legs and a very long body. I had a really hard time getting a picture of it. Sorry its blurry
The Western Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma californicum) is a moth of the family Lasiocampidae. It is found in the Western part of the Nearctic ecozone.
