What are these little black caterpillars with white fuzz that are taking over our patio?

Question

They litterally fall from the trees, I saw it myself. Then, they squirm around, and eventually die, either because of the heat, or we step on them. I want to know:

1. What kind of caterpillar/butterflies are they?

2. Why are they falling off the trees?

& 3. How do I get rid of them?

Answer 1

Gross - those are bag worms!  They have kind of a pattern and stripes on their back as well as the fuzz, right?  Yeah, they hatch from eggs in the ground, then crawl up the tree and make a big ugly web-like sack where they squirm around and go out at night to eat the leaves off the tree. Birds tear open the sacks and the worms fall out, and sometimes they fall when eating.  Pick them up and drop them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them, then pour the water into a hole and fill the hole up over them.  Or pick them up and drop them in the trash can.  They are nasty and they can weaken the tree and make it ugly by eating the leaves and making that gross web-sack.

Answer 2

probably tent caterpillar or maybe webworms...bag worms hang down from branches like Christmas ornaments.  As they mature they will crawl away from the food source and drop out of the trees to pupate on the ground.  Depending on how big the tree is it may not be practical to treat for them in the trees...any treatment on the ground may only slow down what you see but not really stopping the problem

Answer 3

there regular baby callipeellers they get away with pepper