SCORES & OUTDOORS: Woolly Bear update and other folklore winter predictions

Photo by Roland Hallee, taken on Sunday, September 22.

by Roland D. Hallee

Well, my article on Woolly Bear caterpillars in the September 12, 2024, issue of The Town Line, generated some emails.

One reader wrote: “According to your article in this week’s issue of The Town Line you haven’t been seeing any Woolly Bear caterpillars. Maybe it’s because they all migrated to my boyfriend’s house on the Ward Road, in Augusta. We have been spotting many of them since last week and the orange band on all of them is quite long. I guess that means we’ll have a mild winter. Personally, I would prefer snow over rain that freezes over. Snow is much easier to deal with.”

Another wrote: “Seeing lots of woolly bears. Everyone has a long brown stripe.”

Still another: “I saw one large healthy-acting woolly bear a couple days ago, and am pleased to report his orange band was at least half his body length.”

Another reader, who lives in Palermo wrote: “I live on Hostile Valley Road, in Palermo, and I just wanted to let you know the ‘bears’ are doing well over here. I walk many days and do a lot of gardening. I’ve seen at least a dozen so far these past two weeks. Most have been the traditionally marked version with a mid-body red/brown combined with the two black ends. Look very proportional with the blacks together equaling the red. I have seen one that was black on one end with the rest of the body red/brown.”

So, with all of that, guess what happened last Sunday? I saw two woolly bears, and managed to photograph one of them. Again, large rust colored band compared to the black tips.

From all reports, all the woolly bear sightings have mentioned a long rust-colored band, one e-mailer saying the band occupied at least half of the body.

Let’s hope the little critter is correct and we will have a relatively mild winter, as in the last couple of years.

Old farmers’ folklore states the severity, or mildness, of an upcoming winter is predicted with the woolly bear’s markings. The wider the rust-colored band, the milder the winter.

Other folklore to consider, the height of bee hives. The higher from the ground, the more snow can be expected. I have seen a few bee hives this year, one was in the ground, the others attached to the corners, in the rafters under the roofs, which is pretty normal.

Also, the amount of difficulty peeling an onion. My wife and I eat a lot of onions, and this summer, they have peeled easily, another sign of a mild winter.

Moose sighting on Killdeer Point

How many people witnessed the moose sighting on Killdeer Point last week? According to those who did, the moose took a swim, emerged on Killdeer Point, then went for a stroll up the road. Where it went from there, nobody seems to have seen that.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The Boston Red Sox have won nine World Series. Only two other teams have more. Who are they?