2009 Cocooning Update!
2008-2009 Cocooning Update
By: Ian Miller
This has been my best year yet for finding silk moth cocoons. I have been taking hikes with my lovley girl friend (Bailee) and driving around out in the country in search of promethea cocoons. Today we came across a tree that had 6 cocoons hanging from it!!! And then we came across another tree with 3 cocoons on it! So far finding 6 cocoons on one tree is my record. I have only found 4 on one tree up until today.
The larger cocoons are female while the smaller ones are males
All cocoons sound and feel alive so I am pretty excited about that. Its funny because just last sunday we( Bailee and I) had found 7 cocoons and only one was alive, the rest had hatched or been diseased, so I guess we got repaid today with a find of 9 healthy sounding cocoons! All cocoons this year have been found on White ash, Wild Black cherry, and one large cocoon on a small Elm. The majority have been spun on Black Cherry trees and im suspiscious that the one on elm had wondered from its host ( ash) because there were several smaller ash trees in the area.
I also Noticed while walking along the Chippewa River a cecropia way up at the top of a 15 foot high Red Maple tree. So being my very monkey like self I scaled the tree ,( the tree was unharmed) and gentley peeled the cocoon away from the branch it was on and shimmyed down with one hand and jumped the remaining few feet to the ground. Usually when i find cocoons up that high the are parasitized but to my luck this one had some weight to it and also makes a nice thud when I shake it. So far for the 2008-2009 collecting season i have found 34 promethea cocoons, 9 cecropia cocoons, and 8 polyphemus cocoons. Hopefully there are plenty more to come. I will be venturing out once this warmer weather starts to melt some snow.
- All Wild cecropia and promethea cocoons ( except the 9 found today feb 3rd)
February 5th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I'm so impressed! I still have found no promethea cocoons, only a few cecropias - all parasitized, and two polyphemus - both alive. I keep looking, but can't seem to find very many. You have a really good eye for seeing them!
Marcie