Don't see my photos posted. Will try to attach here.

Looks like something injured them as the leaf buds were just starting to open, perhaps cold. Nothing you can do now to fix them.

That would be much better than a bug is eating them. I'm in Boston suburb - I think we had more than 1 freeze after a stretch of warm weather.

I'm seeing this on about half of my 20 or so peony plants, all different areas - so hoping it was a weather issue. (I dread trying to control a bug problem.)

All plants bloomed well - no buds existed during the late freezes/frosts.

(I was worried its a bug, and I have too many plants to hand apply hortic. oil to every leaf, and then they'd start losing foliage and be sad next year.)

I think it is transient calcium deficiency during growth phase.