I think it's a late instar sweetbay silkmoth. Here's an old picture of mine, it looks just like yours, and I identified it as such. According to my book, they'll use any member of the magnolia family, not just sweetbay. They're certainly not bad guys, don't occur in large numbers on any tree, as far as I know. Late instar sweetbay moth -

Here's a picture of adults mating -

The females are real orange -

Sherry

Wow… They’re beautiful! I knew you know what kind it was! It’s always so much fun to find one that I’ve never seen before. I could only see two on the star magnolia bush. I’ll keep my eye out for them when they turn into butterflies. Thanks so much Sherry!