Cicadas


Where you live, do you get 
these, cicadas?

We are expecting a swarm in 
the next week or so. 
These coming out are the 
17 year cicadas. 
These are called Brood XIV.
The last time they were here
were in May 2004. 
They spent most of their
lives as underground
nymphs. When they emerge they
have one thing to do..
MATE.
After mating the female cuts slits
in the bark of a twig where she deposits 
her eggs. When the eggs hatch, the 
nymphs drop to the ground and 
burrow at depths of
8 feet. In 17 years the cycle
happens again. 

The mating call of the cicadas is
LOUD!
So loud you could not hear
yourself THINK.

Not only do we do this every
17 years.....haha, we have 
the Brood 
XXlll
that visit us every 13 years.
Those were here in 2011,
ten years ago. 
Three more and we will 
do this again.


(my pic)

BUT....
if that is not enough, we
have what I call the late
comers. The ones that venture
out every year. Not many, you 
don't hear these but you do
find their shells laying around,
hanging on trees, plants and etc.


Some dogs eat them. 
Dakota never did. Chey, not
sure, will have to wait and see.
They are not bad for the dogs
unless they eat tons of them.
Interesting will be the cats on 
the deck esp if they are crawling
on the outside. 

I think the ones coming soon are
the orange eyed ones. The 
other would be the 13 yr ones.

Note~ there are somewhere around
3000 different types of cicadas.
Thank goodness we don't get
them all at one time!

Pam









 

Comments

Sandee said…
We don't have them here, but I've heard tales about them. I'll pass. I will say they are most ugly.

Enjoy the noise.

Have a fabulous day and weekend, Pam. Scritches to the furbabes. ♥
Darla M Sands said…
They are fascinating when not constituting a plague. ~shudder~ As a sleepy child about to enter the family car for a long drive home from my beloved grandparents' home I got freaked out by what my mind translated as a huge hornet. Deciding it a dream, I found comfort in the truth. And I've not minded their presence since. :) But I agree about a limited infiltration. Heh... Be well, my dear.
In theory we don't have those cicadas here but we did back in West Virginia and they were never pleasant to listen to at all.
Liz A. said…
I've heard of them, but I've never seen them in real life. So, no, we don't get them around my neck of the woods.
Ann said…
I've only ever seen one around here
I saw some articles recently about these.

Here in the UK it is Asian hornets that many are keeping a close eye out for as they could decimate the UK's native bee population.

All the best Jan
Jeanie said…
They say we're expecting them too, but so far I have yet to see/hear any. Of course, it's still pretty cool so maybe that makes a difference.

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