Web Worms An individual leaf-eating machine that lives in the relative safety of its nest. The Cuckoo Bird is a common predator, opening the nest with its downward-curving bill and dining on the occupants. Here many dozens of caterpillars can be seen inside the nest. In the Northern USA, they develop late in the season when deciduous leaves will soon be shed naturally, but the nest tends to remain as an unsightly blemish on the landscape for months. Here every green tidbit has been devoured on this sapling. Webworms are not very serious pests to mature trees, but a sapling or dwarf tree may be stripped of its foliage. They tend to prefer certain species of trees. They first appear as a small silken mass in a limb crotch, much like a Tent Caterpillar which appears earlier in the year.  But the nest is much less dense and durable than that of the Tent Caterpillar. As the Webworms grow, so does the nest. Silk threads will spread out to every chewed leaf and resemble a silken highway on nearby limbs.

To remove the nests and occupants, go HERE