Banded Woolly Bear

Pyrrharctia Isabella, more commonly known as a banded woolly bear, is the caterpillar stage of the Tiger Moth.  The caterpillars emerge from eggs in late summer and early fall in temperate climates.  The caterpillars are active and feeding on broadleaf plants until the cold weather sets in.  When the weather begins to cool the woolly bears, sometimes in a migrating mass of caterpillars, will seek out protected places in the understory—under deadfall, under leaves, or in root tangles.  The wooly bears overwinter by curling into a coil and more or less freezing solid.  The heart of the caterpillar even stops beating.  In the spring, the caterpillar emerges and pupates before becoming a moth.

Interestingly, in the Arctic, due to the short growing season for vegetation, the woolly bear must feed for several summers and freeze again each winter, before becoming a moth.   

Folklore holds that the thickness of the dark middle color band is a predictor of winter.  If the dark band is thin, the winter will be severe.  If the band is thick the winter will be mild.  The middle band, as a fact certain, grows wider as the caterpillar ages.

I found two woolly bears yesterday on some thimbleberry plants.  I have not noticed them around me since I was a young boy.  I scooped one up into my palm and allowed it to inch up my arm a bit. 

Nice to be a kid again. 

--Mitchell Hegman