Just a Few More Cold Weeks in Ithaca...

With the conclusion of the winter season and gradually warming weather upon entering Spring Break, we decided to take a hike around the Cornell Campus and share some photos of the scenery. 

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Today is the first day of Spring Break here at Cornell University, and the weather is getting better and better as we head into April and spring begins. We've probably seen the last of the frost until next winter, and lately there have been a sprinkle of decently warm days with a tease of sunshine. Since we finally have a break from school, we decided to take a hike around the natural areas on campus. We started at the Cascadilla Gorge Trail near our dorm and walked up to Central to get a view of libe slope. Then we crossed over to the Azalea Garden and made our way down to Beebe Lake. Though it doesn't look like many of the trees have begun to grow leaves yet, we can tell they are getting close based on the leaf buds coming in. 

Along the way, we also happened to come across some wildlife.... 

There were some Hymenopteran nests up high on the trees on Central Campus as well as the entrance of Beebe Lake. In addition, the fish at the Azalea Garden were surprisingly still doing very well after all these winter months. What was most interesting, however, was a Hyalophora cecropia cocoon fixed on a small tree at the entrance of Beebe right across the wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) tree we had sleeved some of our larvae last summer. Unfortunately, it was dead though, as there was a small hole on the side of it and it was clearly hollow when we felt it (not sure what killed it?). We assume it must have been an escapee from the larvae we sleeved last year, otherwise this would be the most bizarre coincidence to find a wild cocoon at this place. 

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Alan Liang​
​Alan Liang is a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York pursuing an undergraduate degree in entomology. He is co-owner and a main contributor of the Liang Insects blog and photographs.

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