Eastern Tent Caterpillar

When I first started visiting John in Wilmot I noticed many tent caterpillars in the trees. As we were planting the garden yesterday, we saw this one crawling in the thatch nearby. John complained that there were a lot of them this year and I mentioned that I had thought there were fewer than this winter. Now I realize that of course I don't notice them anymore — the caterpillars have left the tents and are crawling around.

These are the gypsy moth caterpillars. You can read more at these links:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_tent_caterpillar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_moth
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_caterpillar

Malacosoma americanum

Eastern tent caterpillar Set

Technorati Tags: Malacosoma americanum, Eastern tent caterpillar
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Mourning Cloak Butterfly Nest?

This summer while searching for a way up Barton Mountain, Wingnut and I came across this nest in a wild apple tree. It is probably a tent caterpillar nest, which produces a brown moth. But all of the caterpillars were vibrating with the same rhythm, which was quite amazing to see. I read something about such a vibration with the caterpillars of the mourning cloak butterfly, so I am hoping that this is what we saw. Information on the web is very non-specific. If you know anything, please leave a comment.

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Technorati tags: mourning+cloak+butterfly tent+caterpillars
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