Caterpillar Time!
Greetings, Late summer is a great time to find caterpillars. I'm sure you are all familiar with the beautiful Monarch caterpillar. This brood when it emerges will be heading to Mexico! Just look for a patch of Milkweed and you are likely to see one of these. Now, here is a caterpillar most of you are not familiar and may not even think it was a caterpillar if you saw it! This is the caterpillar of a Flannel Moth. This caterpillar will feed on many of the hardwood trees found in our region. HOWEVER BEWARE! This caterpillar packs a painful and poisonous sting! They have poisonous stinging spines underneath the hair. Final note, there was a bear in Mount Hebron a few days ago! Please make your yard unattractive to bears. That means bring in bird feeders at night, keep garbage cans inside if possible, don't feed feral cats and look for water sources in your yard. It is not good for a bear to associate houses as a food source in such a densely populated area.