Totally fine and healthy looking here..

But not looking good at all here on this branch right nearby. Any thoughts?

PS- I just realized I put this thread in the lawn care section. While this tree is technically on my lawn, there might be a better forum for this post. If there is and a Mod can move the thread, please do. Sorry!

Have you or previous owner used weed and feed or other herbicide on lawn recently? Neighbor on either side of you? Was soil added or taken away recently in the root zone?

We just moved here so I'm not sure what was done before then. I do know there is what appears to be newer soil with perlite in it around the base of the tree.

Do you see any cottony webs in the tree? It looks like it has been stripped by webworms. That is typical of how they work.

The natural predator for webworms is the paper wasp that lives in the paper nest under your eaves. If you have those and are not allergic to wasp stings, then leave them there. You can easily have a normal relationship with wasps if you simply don't get nervous. Don't wave your arms around to shoo them away. Don't run away from them. Don't get too close to the nest until you have developed the non-aggressive relationship. It only takes 5 seconds of not being aggressive to develop that rapport. In 2012 I had about 50 wasps living on my back porch - the one with the very low overhanging shed roof. They were literally 6 inches above my head, and I never had a problem.

The second natural predator for caterpillars is a liquid suspension of bacillius thurengienses, a bacterial disease that affects only caterpillars. It comes as the brand BT Worm Killer, but Green Light. BT stops them from feeding on contact, and they die in about 3 days. A small bottle of the stuff will be a lifetime supply. It has a shelf life of forever.