We have an animal or insect that makes the most amazing string structures. We would like to know what is capable of this. The structure starts at the top of a tree and zig zags down about 12 feet. At this point a finer string shoots out about 45 feet across the yard to another tree where it zig zags up to the top of that tree. The horizontal part is about 20 feet off the ground. This is the second one we have noticed this summer. We live in Springfield, MA. I have some photos of it here
http://picasaweb.google.com/MATetreault/20100801
Picasa Web Albums - Mark - 2010-08-01

Any help would be greatly appreciated. It amazes me that the string shoots out horizontal for a long distance. Something that flys?

WOW! I have no idea what could make that, but it's amazing! And the string is huge! Are you sure it's a bug?

Have you ever touched the string?

Mark, I was really having a hard time making out your pics but, at this time of year, I am 99% positive what you are dealing with is the Fall Webworm. VERY damaging to trees. You appear to have found them at the beginning of their nest building. Here is info on them along with management recommendations. You need to get rid of them before they destroy your trees.

Fall Webworm - Landscape Nursery and Urban Forestry - UMass Extension

Fall Webworm Management, HYG-2026-95

Markoh, I'm no expert but I'm leaning towards neighborhood kids and a ball of twine. Can you see this in other trees in the area?

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Originally Posted by parttime

Markoh, I'm no expert but I'm leaning towards neighborhood kids and a ball of twine. Can you see this in other trees in the area?

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Yeah, that was my first inclination. Someone kite flying or practicing their fishing casts but it is not string. It has the consistency of spider silk and is translucent. The thicker part in the trees is the same but appears to be several of the finer ones twisted together. Another one showed up last night further back in some trees, but the same type of construction. Weird.

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Originally Posted by Just_Another_Lemming

Mark, I was really having a hard time making out your pics but, at this time of year, I am 99% positive what you are dealing with is the Fall Webworm. VERY damaging to trees. You appear to have found them at the beginning of their nest building. Here is info on them along with management recommendations. You need to get rid of them before they destroy your trees.

Fall Webworm - Landscape Nursery and Urban Forestry - UMass Extension

Fall Webworm Management, HYG-2026-95

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We were trying to narrow it down to the insects or animals that can make some kind of web or silk. What is baffling is that the "string" travels about 45 feet from one tree to another about 20 feet from the ground. We noticed another one constructed about 90 feet back from the first in different trees. We can't figure out how the trip to the tree is made. Maybe the structure of what we have will expand and it will reveal itself, but so far it remains unchanged. We had an outbreak of the webworm many years back and your right, they are nasty but this isn't growing like that yet.

I'm voting for lemming's webworms.
Any reason to think that's not what it is?

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Originally Posted by MarKoH

What is baffling is that the "string" travels about 45 feet from one tree to another about 20 feet from the ground. We noticed another one constructed about 90 feet back from the first in different trees. We can't figure out how the trip to the tree is made. Maybe the structure of what we have will expand and it will reveal itself, but so far it remains unchanged. We had an outbreak of the webworm many years back and your right, they are nasty but this isn't growing like that yet.

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Traveling from one tree to another isn't necessarily a problem. Spiders do that all the time and so can other animals. They can "fall" across the space between buoyed by light breezes, trailing the silk behind. How thick are the thickest strings? Hard to judge from photos.

Are you sure the outbreak a few years ago wasn't in the spring & early summer? The tent caterpillar inundated New England a few years back. They are also extremely damaging to the foliage. They stripped trees bare, killing quite a few.

If you are positive that these aren't from the webworm, I am beginning to be haunted by images of an "Arachnophobia" type of situation in Springfield, MA. I don't think I will be driving by there any time soon! :)

Maybe Asking has some definite ideas when you come back and answer his question about the thickness of the strings.

In the meantime, if you think it may be a spider, here are a couple of other sites for you to check out. You might want to see if you can take clearer pics of the webbing and see if the site owners will be able to identify it for you:

Spiderzrule

Welcome to BugGuide.Net! - BugGuide.Net

Dear Lord help me if that's a spider! I'll send this link to Cats to see if he knows what might be.

I was actually wondering why Cats hasn't shown up yet!

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

Dear Lord help me if that's a spider!! I'll send this link to Cats to see if he knows what might be.

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So where's the link?

That's absolutely fascinating photography, Mark. My first thought was anchor lines for a Northern widow spider, but there should be a web between them almost immediately. Closer examination makes me tend to think of webworms, too.

Fascinating!
Wish you could take close-up photos and photos of where the strings connect or are fastened.
How easy to break?

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Originally Posted by Robert Gift

Fascinating!
Wish you could take close-up photos and photos of where the strings connect or are fastened.
How easy to break?

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We had quite a thunderstorm run through the other day and it survived that! I am going to try to get a picture of the intersections of the zig zag and where it shoots off to the other tree.