13-year cicadas are about to strike. Your advice?

Hello,

Those who keep track of such things tell us that the 13-year cicadas are due to return in a few days, and to be hungry after a 13-year nap. I moved here (Tennessee) less than a year ago.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Ted Shoemaker ]

Reply to
Ted Shoemaker
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Enjoy it.

You are only going to live to see a few of them. Here in NJ I've seen 3 so far. 2 or 3 to go if I'm lucky.

Is it a food crop you're concerned about? They aren't hungry, they've been eating underground. They emerge to make a LOT of noise and mate.

I'm not sure about crops but they climb up trees, shed their exoskeleton, grow wings and fly around. They mate then cut a slit in tree branches, lay their eggs and die.

Amazing spectacle.

Reply to
despen

Snacks

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Reply to
Amos Nomore

Do your best to enjoy a remarkable event. I will never forget the Memorial Day I spent in Turkey Run State Park during a periodic cicada emergence. The sound...!

They don't come out to eat. They've been dining underground all those years. They emerge with only one thing one their mind: sex.

They can cause some damage to tree when the eggs are deposited, but it is more like an overall tip pruning and usually no serious harm done.

I happen to like cicadas. Very cool, if noisy, insects.

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

I have a friend that attached some of their skeletons to his curtains. Kids and some adults marvel at the design. When they show here the first thing we notice are the dime shaped holes in the ground.

Reply to
Bill who putters

Very cool indeed, and if you have a camera with macro you should be able to get some neat pictures, or even movies if you have a tripod and suitable lighting. When they climb from the ground they head for the nearest tree and emerge at seemingly random locations, some near the ground and some high up, starting around dusk but mostly after dark. With a lot coming out at once there are always some emerging near eye level where you can watch or photograph easily, and they are easy to find by searching tree trunks with a flashlight.

It takes about an hour from the initial split of the nymph exoskeleton to full extension of the wings, then several more hours before the wings harden enough so they can fly, and during this time they cannot move away from you, your camera, or predators.

I have seen hundreds of them climbing my two big elm trees the past two years, and a few every year for the previous ten, so the 13 year timing seems to be only approximate here in Pennsylvania.

I had one climb me and attempt to emerge on my head while I was taking pictures, and quite a few climb the barn, so their discrimination of what is a tree is not quite perfect either :-).

Reply to
Glen Walpert

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago

Reply to
dr-solo

I remember experiencing a plague of cicadas when I was a kid in Hudson, Ohio...my junior high was in the older, long established section of town and as we walked down the sidewalks in that area, it was "crunch, crunch, crunch" for a few days - they were just everywhere - and they were big. Their droning sound was unremitting and was punctuated by periodic hysterical squeals from girls who were unlucky enough to have one fall into their hair. My Mom finally bit the bullet and just drove us to school for a few days...In retrospect

- they were really fascinating.

NT

Reply to
ntantiques

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