i sometimes watch our chickens waddle through hip-high piles of fallen leaves when i’ve thrown them some kitchen scraps, and somehow, without seeming to be looking, they will suddenly stab with their beaks and snap up a morsel of orange squash, or a red apple peel, that look just about exactly like the orange maple leaves and red oak leaves surrounding them. people talk about having eagle eyes or hawk eyes, but i think they should refer to chicken eyes with equal respect. in any case, i appear to have acquired a pair of chicken eyes when it comes to spotting objects in the woods. i can’t tell you why this giant silkworm cocoon stood out from among all the other clusters of brown leaves in the woods today. i certainly wasn’t looking for it. but i sure pounced, and snapped it up.

giant silkmoth cocoon (cecropias, polyphemus, or prometheas)

grass lake trail, saint paul, minnesota