MOUNT VERNON (AP) – A retired state entomologist is forecasting a mild winter for Maine, and he’s basing his prediction on the red-and-black woolly bear caterpillar.

Dick Dearborn has been collecting the caterpillars in recent weeks and measuring the red band around the middle of their bodies. According to folklore, a mild winter is in store when the red band makes up more than one-third of the caterpillar’s body.

Dearborn said red bands this fall are wider than normal – meaning a relatively mild winter ahead.

Dearborn doesn’t guarantee the result, but after tracking the caterpillars for six years now, he thinks the forecasts are about 75 percent accurate.

“I’ve had some winters when woolly bears were wrong. Most winters I felt they were right,” he said.

Dearborn is a lifelong admirer of bugs and is past president of the Maine Entomological Society.

He said woolly bear caterpillars have 13 body segments, with an average of 4.33 of them being red. This year, his woolly bear roundup produced an average of 4.80 red segments, meaning a milder winter than usual ahead.

Last year, the caterpillars he examined had an average of 4.25 red segments, thereby calling for a severe winter. Most Mainers will agree that last year’s forecast was correct.

Dearborn said the best thing about woolly bears is that they are a great way for kids to learn about insects. Late last month, he participated in “Bug Maine-ia,” a daylong event at the Maine State Museum attended by 1,100 school children from around the state.

“It was a surprise to the people at the museum to generate that much interest. My woolly bear table was one of the more popular tables,” he said. “Kids looked at and handled the woolly bears and learned about the weather.”

AP-ES-10-12-03 1100EDT