Infestation

A friend's tree is full of these caterpillars....their thread is strong and not sticky
Maybe related to the silkworm family? The birds, who no doubt have young in their nests who would like a caterpillar or two for supper but NO , the birds are not in any way interested in them .
Please can anyone tell me more ,
jenny namaste

 

Hi Jen

reminds me of elephant hawk moth caterpillars

 

Gosh ,there are thousands there.

 

They would get a squirt of something nasty if they were in my garden, been seeing locally reports of those caterpillars that completely cover whole trees in webbing.
Not saying these are the same but we seem to be getting more of these kinds of things.

 

What tree is it? It's probably a moth caterpillar, the photos a bit blurry so hard to see clearly. I would just let them be, important food source for something and the tree will recover. Part of nature