Monday, June 13, 2011

Periodical Cicadas...

Sometimes called 17-year cicadas, or erroneously "locusts"--they're back, in my area, announcing their presence with a different, whirring, repeated mechanical-sounding note.  Some broods are really every 13 years, so not sure about the time lapse, but they ARE interestng, and different from our usual annual cicadas.  I'm finding their amber-colored shed "skins" all over the place...


 Here's the new kid in town with one of last year's Dog Day (annual) Cicadas...)


I had to sketch them in my journal with their relative sizes!  I haven't been able to catch one emerging, but that's always fun to watch, seeing them change from pale, page green to full color...





Gotta love those beady red eyes!

For more information on these fascinating critters, check HERE.

9 comments:

  1. Yuck,not my favorite bug and i don't like the noise but your drawings are wonderful! Don't they do damage in their pupa stage?

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  2. You know, I don't know if they do damage! Have to do more research, that's a good question...

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  3. Hi Kate -- When I was a kid growing up in suburban Chicago there was a year when we had the 17-year locusts -- that's what they were called back then. I'll never forget the sound, a din, of a bazillion locusts all going off at once.

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  4. nice drawings1 Cool you included the photos.

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  5. Thank you, all! Barbara, I remember a really loud hatch, too...so far these are no more bothersome than my tinnitis, which I'm so used to I usually don't notice... :-D

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  6. Beautiful Work Kate!!! I love it!! Is it on pastel paper? I just bought some over the weekend, I can't wait to get my paws on it :P

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  7. thank you for the in-depht post on cicadas, we only have one type here in Italy, its life-cycle is 18 years as an underground larva and 1 loud summer. They haven't started their racket yet, though I too love their shed skins still clinging on trees...

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  8. Thanks all! Yes, it is on pastel paper, pretty stuff, isn't it. Concetta, it's so interesting to hear what other parts of the world see...we take our annual "Dog Day" cicadas for granted!

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