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Chicklets...Chiquitas...No..Cicadas!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first cicada of the season sat on the doorstep like a mutant bumblebee, with red eyes and yellow legs.But, apparently alarmed by the appearance of a human, it tumbled off the shallow step, landing helplessly on its back. Its yellow legs wiggled frantically to no effect.
"Brood X is likely to be the largest insect emergence on Earth," said Keith Clay, a cicada expert at Indiana University at Bloomington.
Starting this week, across much of the eastern United States, from Georgia north to southern New York and as far west as Illinois, the cicadas will emerge from their 17 years of sucking on tree roots underground to engage in a two-week orgy of calling, mating, laying eggs and then dying.
And things that eat cicadas, from fish and birds to dogs, will gorge on them in a mad frenzy.
Read entire article here.
You'll hear them long before you see them. They're like crickets from hell. If you're ever close enough to see them, I hope you have earplugs.
Be sure to check out http://www.cicadamania.com/
Posted by: Jennifer on May 12, 2004 08:02 PMamazingly, Amber has seen one and I haven't. Which is disturbing considering that I've got the cicadamania site above giving me recipes for them...
Posted by: ron on May 12, 2004 10:08 PMI saw three yesterday morning walking from the car into the building where I work.
Of course, I've also seen two black snakes, a few squirrels, and a racoon on the road near work too.
We had a cicada hull on the clothes line last year, guess it couldn't count. If you'd like, I'll be sure to capture a few for ya.