Woollybears

I've seen more woollybear caterpillars this year than I saw over the past 10 years, I think. Most likely this is because of our very wet summer creating a lot of food for them (through the end of August…now we're in a drought). Every time I go out in my back yard in daylight I see one, it seems like.

I'm surprised by the number of people I've heard about who say they've never seen one before. That speaks to those people not being very attentive to small things in the outdoors, and the fact that there have actually been fewer around, probably from people cleaning up gardens and lawns with leaf blowers, plus the droughts we've had up until this year.

I remember seeing more woolly bears as a child, yet somehow I never managed to look into what they are, and what butterfly or moth they become. Today I remedied that.

They become the Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella, a not completely unforgettable moth. 

I also learned the caterpillars are laying their eggs now. Larvae will emerge before real winter, burrowing somewhere, but not too deep it sounds like, because they're equipped to freeze solid. Their bodies produce a cryoprotectant to prevent their cells from rupture, which makes me wonder if scientists who pursue suspended animation study them.

They're not picky eaters (whether as moths or caterpillars), and range throughout the U.S. and southern Canada, as long as there are plants.