What's your wooly caterpillar forecast?

[rodriguezpoultry]

Only saw one up here in PA. It was almost completely brown with a tiny bit of black on each end.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
Will you call me when stuff goes downhill? You guys are usually a couple weeks ahead of us

Haha, sure, but this year has been upside down already! I mean, the east coast got slammed with snow before we've even seen a single flake!

But...but the rain, doesn't anybody ever think about the rain??? We are drowning down here. The paddocks haven't been dry since the beginning of September.

 

[conny63malies]

in 09 we had tent moths bad in Ft Riley , last year and this year not so much.

 

[Miyashi]

Quote:
Haha, sure, but this year has been upside down already! I mean, the east coast got slammed with snow before we've even seen a single flake!

But...but the rain, doesn't anybody ever think about the rain??? We are drowning down here. The paddocks haven't been dry since the beginning of September.

We had some snow and hail here and there last week. Nothing to complain about...but enough to scare me! xD
I agree with the rain....it's been soggy. First we had no rain for the longest time and everything was dying, now everything is drowning!
IS THERE NO HAPPY MEDIUM!?
I haven't seen a single woolly bear all year.

I know I live in the snow belt...and I know the people who live here say that the past two winters have been "lame"...I thought they were pretty intense! I don't want to know what they are talking about!
Lets all stay warm MI!
(And everyone else of course!)

 

[key west chick]

Our wooly worms hit the nail on the head last year. We had more snow than I can ever remember last year. Havent seen one yet this year.

 

[Blooming chicks]

Last year I saw a lot of solid black woolies, and it was a pretty rough winter. This year I am seeing a lot w/ larger brown bands in the middle. But seriously, I want to see more solid brown ones.

 

[Stacykins]

Quote:
Haha, sure, but this year has been upside down already! I mean, the east coast got slammed with snow before we've even seen a single flake!

But...but the rain, doesn't anybody ever think about the rain??? We are drowning down here. The paddocks haven't been dry since the beginning of September.

Dry chicken runs are a luxury, haha. Rain days on end really sucks, you're right.

 

[Illia]

As an ("amateur") entomologist, just gonna say -

The forecast thing is a myth, but I'm sure most of you know that.


Solid black "woolly bears" are actually a different species, mainly just meaning you have more or less of their desired foodsource or they are more or less being controlled in population. Out here I rarely ever get any because I don't have the proper plants for it, however just a mile down the road there's quite a few.

Chestnut brown, no black - Again a different species.


Also, colors change through their life stages. Some common species such as the Virginian Tiger Moth actually start out white, then turn golden, then brown, and if you catch them just before pupation they're nearly black.

Isabella Tigers (common "woolly bear") actually often are further from or towards hibernation or pupation based on their amount of brown. Means little to nothing on weather.


Often people just catch them at different stages, and sometimes if you see a trend of more or less brown vs black, you're seeing a trend of a hatch-date.

 

[Avalon1984]

Quote:
But...but the rain, doesn't anybody ever think about the rain??? We are drowning down here. The paddocks haven't been dry since the beginning of September.

We had some snow and hail here and there last week. Nothing to complain about...but enough to scare me! xD
I agree with the rain....it's been soggy. First we had no rain for the longest time and everything was dying, now everything is drowning!
IS THERE NO HAPPY MEDIUM!?
I haven't seen a single woolly bear all year.

I know I live in the snow belt...and I know the people who live here say that the past two winters have been "lame"...I thought they were pretty intense! I don't want to know what they are talking about!
Lets all stay warm MI!
(And everyone else of course!)

I can only agree with that! Stop on by sometime, I have some wooly worms tucked into my wood shed

*as another rain storm passes through*

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Way to ruin the fun Illia!!
We should find someone like Granny on Beverly Hillbillies to tell us what their matchbox beetle says. I'm going to say that perhaps we don't know as much about nature as is hardwired into the other species around us, and that perhaps a coincidental hatch date has to do with conditions that frequently occur during specific weather patterns...and perhaps there's a forecast in there somewhere...and it's FUN!

Edited to add

so you know I'm being a goof!