We’re starting to get down to the last insects of the season, and fuzzy brown caterpillars are among the few insects that I still see. Some of these are Banded Wooly Bear caterpillars (Pyrrharctia isabella) that supposedly help tell how severe the winter will be, though I confess that I can never remember how you are supposed to judge, i.e. does a wide middle section mean a short winter or a long one?
When I first took this shot, I thought the subject was a wooly bear caterpillar, but the more I look at it the less certain I feel. There seems to be a black tip on only one end of the caterpillar rather than at both ends. Despite the uncertainty about identification, I really like the shot and the way that I was able to isolate the caterpillar from the background.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The wider the brown band in the middle the milder the winter, is what the old saying says. Wooly bear caterpillars have 13 segments that can be counted, and you hope for more brown than black if you believe the folklore. If the one in the photo is a wooly bear it looks like you’re not going to have winter this year.
That would be great news, because winter is not my favorite season. However, I suspect that it may not be a wooly bear–caterpillar identification in tough for me.
Beautiful–as long as it’s not in my living room :>
Looks like a wooly bear to me too, but I’m no expert. Let’s see if the caterpillar’s prediction (mild winter for you) is correct or not… if we can remember this photo by the time spring rolls around.
That sure looks like a Wooly Bear. I’m going to take a wild guess here and say maybe it’s a young one. I know with birds the youngsters always look a little off from the adults. But I’m no expert on caterpillars and now I’m curious to know the answer of the missing black band.
If you want a serious caterpillar book I highly recomment Caterpillars of Eastern North America. With the 500-page book you can identify the caterpillars of nearly 700 butterflies and moths.