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Siblings‍
Sure, it might look like some googley-eyed creature from a sci-fi cartoon, but this glob dangling from the tip of a sourwood branch is a wad of caterpillars. Huh? I snap a photo and do a quick search of the artificial intelligence app on my trusty computer/phone. Ok, the larval stage of a walnut moth, huh? The description fits: a dark mass of caterpillars with long white hairs. The behavior fits: a larval mass that does not build a nest, but remains in a wad that feeds en masse on the leaves of the tree before crawling – again, en masse – down the tree trunk, where they molt simultaneously before searching out a suitable place on the ground to dig in and pupate. Talk about a close-knit family! ~K