Rearing Promethea moths: cocoon hunting!

One of the easiest & most interesting moths one can rear are promethea moths, Callosamia promethea.  Here in Wisconsin, their cocoons can be found in the winter, if you look on black cherry trees, especially along rural hedgerows.  (Further south, say in southern Indiana, Illinois or Ohio, you might also look on sassafras trees.) My favorite time to go cocoon hunting is along in maybe February or early March.   By that time, most leaves have long since, blown away in the winter winds and taller grasses and brush have been as flattened as they are going to get, from the snow & ice.  That makes seeing cocoons on low-hanging tree branches, all that much easier.  Some thaws have also brought down the snow pack & my longing for signs of spring has become an over-riding pre-occupation.  I look over some maps and chart my course for a drive in the countryside... or just head out, away from town.

What I'm looking for are those magical-looking cocoons, made by caterpillars way back last summer as they spun their silken threads, curling leaves in on themselves.  Those leaves that were green at the time, were attached to their twigs by silk and never fell when the fall and winter winds stripped away the other leaves.  If they are lucky, they also were over-looked by hungry wintering birds and they patiently await for spring and early summer to release the adult moths from within.