Isabella Tiger Moth

They are so cute and fuzzy, I didn't want to let him go.

I used to reliably see these Isabella Tiger Moth Larvae [Wooly Bear Catepillars] every fall as a kid in the Catskill Mtns of Upstate New York; i have lived in North Carolina now for over 15 years and you dont see as many on these here, but i saw one this year in my driveway, that was almost all brown as the amount of black stripping on him was so scarce and almost none existant, this leads me to believe, that as the commenter below states, that these are not always an accurate predictor of weather as the folklore goes, since it is already one of the coldest Falls and probably going to be the coldest winter here in NC as well on record, which means that this almost all brown one i saw should have been almost all black instead, to lend any kind of creedance to the validity of this folklore..... read morealthough i still like to believe it as a kid at heart..peace..mike

Tend to be active in early to late fall - very noticeable. Bands on the caterpillars had nothing to do with winter. Very active, moving large distances from one area to the next, searching. I found one on the downstair deck and let it outside this year and then later found one (same or different?) coiled up on the tip of a blazing star (Liatris) then another day found one in the Cannas.