A very hungry caterpillar

This plant is a "wooly Dutchman's pipe vine".  It is a host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar.  

There were plenty chewing on the leaves.

Mom was fluttering around close by.

 

caterpillar season

In mid summer the trees begin to grow white web-like clumps.

A close look shows hundreds of caterpillars working away.

Eastern tent caterpillars?  Here

Milkweed caterpillars

We looked on the backside of milkweed leaves looking for monarch caterpillars.  Instead we found these: Milkweed tussock moth caterpillars.  (see here) They look like those little furry dogs.

Fuzzy Fall Caterpillar

This guy was crawling quickly across the front sidewalk.  He's a Dagger Moth Caterpillar.  There is an old wives tale about fuzzy caterpillars predicting a cold winter...but I think it's a different kind of caterpillar.  (I hope.)

tussock moth caterpiller

My niece found this guy crawling along our deck.  She thought it was the same colors as our dog.  Turns out it's a Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  Turns out that those cute fuzzy hairs on it cause an itchy rash.  Luckily we let it crawl on it's way without playing with it.