wooly bear sighting

[3forfree]

Seeing a lot of wooly bear caterpillars this year and all of them have the biggest brown stripe I've ever seen. Legend says with that big stripe we will have a mild winter. Hope they're right.

 

[Wyandottes7]

I've seen only one wooly bear this year, but its brown stripe was the biggest I've ever seen, too. The caterpillar was nearly all brown, except for a small black stripe near its head. I'm hoping for a mild winter.

 

[rufus]

It looks like a tent caterpillar. I remember when I was a kid, they used to march like an army into the fields. Farmers put tin foil barriers up to stop them. It really didn't work. Eventually, they cut down all of the cotton wood trees. That and insecticides seemed to stop them.

I wish we had the cotton woods back.

 

[drumstick diva]

Come to think of it I haven't seen any wooly bears this year. Usually they are crawling all over the house and driveway (and busy streets) during the warm, sunny days left in September.

What does it mean if you don't see any?? Did pollution kill them off?

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Hmm. I haven't seen any!

 

[Tiller]

I've seen several so far, struck me as odd at the time that they were mostly brown with only the tips being black. I've only seen one that I would have considered to be "1/2 and 1/2"

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I've seen tons of Woolies this year. Crossing roads, on my car and house, cruising thru the grass...they are everywhere.

Most of the ones I've seen around here have been completely black (which I'm guessing may be a bad thing, according to that little tale about their stripe n all

). Some have had small brown stripes. Poo.

 

[Peaches Lee]

I have seen more this year than I have in past years, but we have had a very warm Fall so far--which has been great!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Because I was curious I did some research on the woolly bear. And here is it's official name, and a picture of it at it's moth stage!

Isabella Tiger Moth

 

[EweSheep]

No woolies this year that I 've seen.