Woolly Bears of Drought

[Fred Schueler]

Everyone,

In 2023 I summarized the occurrence of woolly moth caterpillars in
Bishops Mills - https://ngtimes.ca/hairy-autumnal-wanderers/ - we had
7 of the black Hypercompe scribonia in 2023, but since then there have
been none in 2024 or 2025.

There were 15 of the brown & black Pyrrharctia isabella on the Streets
in 2023, 10 around the houses, & 22 on roads elsewhere = 47

2024: 36 on streets – none elsewhere – 9 around houses = 45
2025: 18 on streets - 11 on roads elsewhere - 29 around houses = 58

I'm now writing up this year's apparent abundance of small P. isabella
during the drought, and wonder what others have seen of these species?

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------

[andreahoward andreahoward]

I have seen one this year. Terry has seen 3-4, in various places in Kemptville, including our driveway. He has only seen them on pavement. We are not driving many country roads, though, which is where I normally see plenty of them in October (and always crossing at right angles to the white line.) 

Andrea

------ Original Message ------
From: bck...@istar.ca
To: natur...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 2nd 2025, 18:24
Subject: [NatureList] Woolly Bears of Drought
Everyone, In 2023 I summarized the occurrence of woolly moth caterpillars in Bishops Mills - https://ngtimes.ca/hairy-autumnal-wanderers/ - we had 7 of the black Hypercompe scribonia in 2023, but since then there have been none in 2024 or 2025. There were 15 of the brown & black Pyrrharctia isabella on the Streets in 2023, 10 around the houses, & 22 on roads elsewhere = 47 2024: 36 on streets – none elsewhere – 9 around houses = 45 2025: 18 on streets - 11 on roads elsewhere - 29 around houses = 58 I'm now writing up this year's apparent abundance of small P. isabella during the drought, and wonder what others have seen of these species? fred. ------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/ 2024 annual letter: https://clt1233162.bmeurl.co/11E63979 6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0 on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W ------------------------------------------------------------ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NatureList" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to naturelist+...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/6ef8bcd8-5776-4c59-b69b-77118e8473bb%40istar.ca.

[e.g. g]

I reckon I swerved around woolly bear caterpillars crossing local Rideau Lakes Twp roads maybe 2-3 times a week roughly in October and first part of Nov.  most often stretches of quiet road w mixed wooded margins with cedary or cattailly wetlands behind the wooded margins.   this autumn found 2 on the ground amongst the plants and shredded leaf mulch in my garden beds, which are surrounded by mixed woods of conifer plantings and sugar maple+ironwood/paperbirch/ashseedlings,up back of se shore of Big Rideau Lake.

Elizabeth Gammell

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/67fb0876.11aa.19aec8d7766.Webtop.35%40sympatico.ca

.

[Aleta Karstad]

Found a 3 cm Woolybear on the kitchen floor this afternoon at about 14:00 - released it in the woodshed, close to the foundation.

Aleta

[rmb...@istar.ca]

I have seen a few in my neck of the woods north of Perth Road Village,
but not nearly as many as in years past. In fact, the overall
sighting of ANY caterpillars was very sparce this year. I usually
come across a good variety of caterpillars from August until October
frosts, but even when looking for them, didn't find any. I'm
suspecting this was due to the drought. I'm worried about the numbers
of moths that will show up at the lights next summer. This summer was
particularly good for some moths, I have never seen so many luna moths
as I have this year.

Ever since that horrendous flood of spongy moths that we had 3 or 4
summers ago there has been a noticeable drop in the number of
butterflies these past 3 summers. For example, where I used to see at
least 2 or 3 white admiral butterflies every week, I only saw about 4
white admirals the entire summer. The eyed browns were definitely down
in numbers, as were the skippers.

I did have several Isabella tiger moths come to the lights, so
hopefully they bred a new batch for next year. They seem to be one of
the "sturdier" critters that survive drought and wet years.

Rose-Marie

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/713874639.36471.1764971434617%40mail.yahoo.com.
>

[Candice Vetter]

I have seen fewer caterpillars of any type, and Woolly Bears have seen fewer than usual, maybe by half.

---

Candice Vetter

 

[P Auritus]

Just a few minutes ago (~3:05) saw a Whoolybear on a doorstep outside, slowly moving. I moved it before I took a picture, so it wouldn't get stepped on.

Kingston, cloudy, ~ 2 C. Snowing lightly early this morning, but stopped late this morning.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/naturelist/bd1869386e0eddf80cacd5c422de351d%40xplornet.com.