It is sad, but our beloved "tadpole puddle" has dried up. Jasper and I went out to visit it, and found that it had been tilled in. There is a big tree that overhangs the spot where the puddle used to be, and when we looked up, we noticed that there were tons of cottony nests build snugly onto its branches. This could only mean one thing: Tent caterpillars.
Although they can do serious damage to flowers, I haven't seen a single nest on our property. (Thankfully!) Jasper and I decided to observe them, so we went back home and grabbed the camera, and old empty plastic fish tank, and an X-acto knife. We trekked back out to the tree, and began to take some pictures of the caterpillars and their cottony nests.
At the tree
A nest
A newer nest, with lots of caterpillars on it.
After snapping more than a few photos, we decided to collect some of the nests to take home for observation.
Some were too high to collect
And most we just decided to leave alone.
After that, I took out my X-acto knife and decided to dissect a nest, for educational purposes of course.
The whitest stuff was not part of the nest, it was this cottony seed material.
I am not sure of the purpose of tent caterpillar's nests, as all I observed were two or three caterpillars inside. The majority reside on the outside of the nest.
Jasper and I took the nests we collected home, and set up a habitat for them. Here is a video of it:
Overall, I think that tent caterpillars are pretty cool, despite their ravenous appetite for foliage. They are, after all, just doing what they were born to do.
