Cicadas?

[pelagia]

Anyone else having a cicada infestation this summer? I started to take out the trash out last night and turned right around because it sounded like some sort of evil creature was wailing in the trees.  Then when I was headed to bed a large insect was beating itself to death at the bathroom window.  I think it was a cicada.  This is the closest I could find on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy12sppepRQ

[tyefly]

   Boy    I am glad we dont have  Cicadas  here in Oregon.... well at least not this far north.....  they can be so loud.....   Here at the coast in Oregon  we dont have hardly any bugs.... very few spiders which are pretty small......   I feel for others that live around the country and all those bugs.... even though I do like some of the bugs you find down in Mississippi... and of course the fireflys....... 
       

[pelagia]

tyefly - I didn't realize you live on the Oregon coast.  I have spent many a lovely summer vacation a little south of Yachats, where my husband's family has a house.  The Oregon coast is heaven on earth for me.

[willowtreewren]

Here in Tennessee we live with the buzz of cicadas all summer. To me it is the quintessential sound of the season. Every 17 years we have a major "bloom" as that is the normal life cycle and a huge number come out at that time. It sounds like heavy equipment running then. Our last 17 year cycle was about 3 years ago.

I remember catching the mature adults as a kid. They are pretty harmless and easy to catch as they are slow. Every once in a while I'll see an adult emerging from the larval stage shell after climbing up out of the ground. Pretty cool. 

[twirl]

YES
and they are driving Lady Bird crazy 
yesterday moring when I was leaving for dialysis five baby lizards were on the outside of my kitchen window -- they were so cute
too bad Zuko is not still alive -- they would have been his breakfast
and hello, hello, hello to you

[willowtreewren]

Hello, hello, hello to you, too!

[Bajanne]

In France, this insect is known as La Cigale, and is a kind of symbol in Southern France.  You even see brooches looking like cicadas.  I had one and lost it.  I first met this insect in New York.  So glad we don't have them in the Caribbean!

[tyefly]

   Pelagia....... Yes   I live just north of Yachats....   and we love Yachats   its the home of the la de da...!
      plus they have a 4th of July parade just like we do here in Gleneden Beach.....  I love the coast and walk my siberian huskies on the beach daily.......

         I have been all over the US   and   well even though I like to fly fish  ( still learning ) and like the idea of using fake bugs...... although I do bait fish too....    I really hate bugs..... some places in the US  there are bugs everywhere.... Like Kansas with their beetles..... and Alabama and those clouds of big flying things.... And Dont forget the very  very large spider balls that you can find in Texas......   these balls of spiders were sometimes as big a small watermellons....  Daddy long legs all clustered together hanging on each other to make a big round ball and they all move together to make the ball  move in and out which looks like it creates a air current with all of their movement.....   very fasinating....
     Any one else ever seen this ............ 

[willieandwinnie]

pelagia,  we have only had a few Cicadas this year. There are just the shells of them stuck on the deck. They haven't been making the noise that they usually do. Not enough of them I guess. I hate them when they do their 17 year thing and they seem to be everywhere, even stuck to the dogs. Yuk....

[kitkatz]

I do not like bugs, however most I will not run from, with the exception of June Bugs.  June bugs are big ugly bugs that make a loud noise. My daughter thought they were pretty. I would call her to come get the June bug. She would pick it up and take it outside.  I scream whenever I hear or see one in the house.  Now the kids are gone what will I do?

[willowtreewren]

We used to tie strings on the June bugs' legs and fly them around. I think they are pretty, too. I must be weird. I have a pet tarantula at school! 

[tyefly]

     I too have had many tarantulas.... mostly when I was younger..... I have a big phobia of spiders but the tarantulas were different ....  I think it was because I kept them it a 55gal aquarium....   One time one of them got out of the aquarium  and we looked and looked  but didnt not find it....   I later was going to the store and grab my purse and reached in to get the car keys   and there he was.... scared the poop  right out of me.....

[paris]

Willowtreewren, I also think cicadas are the sound of summer.  I enjoy their sound.  And the kids love searching for the shells.  I like the sounds of nature (sometimes more than the sounds of humans    )

[pelagia]

What I was hearing was a very strange sound that I've never heard before, like a cicada on steroids.  I am still wondering if some creature other than a cicada was making the sound.  Are cicadas attracted to lights at night?

[twirl]

they must be attracted to light -- we have more of them when we are on the patio at night -
I was holding Trasie in the pool and one flew between us - I thought she was going to have a heart attack -
ha ha -- it was loud and big - I caught it in the pool net and threw it out and Lady Bird chased it and ate it - I think -- it disappeared and Lady Bird was chewing --

[Zach]

What I was hearing was a very strange sound that I've never heard before, like a cicada on steroids.

I hear ghosts.   

[petey]

Here in southern North Carolina, we call them "locusts" (even though the biology teacher at school tries to explain to us that they're not really locusts -- just some distant cousin).  Anyway, that's what I've always called them, so they're locusts to me.

We haven't seen too many around this year, but I do love to hear a group of them "singing" at dusk.  Throw in some frogs croaking and a Bob White or two...Ah, the sounds of a country summer night...

We usually find the shells they leave behind -- and they'll leave them anywhere!  I always look for the most perfect left-behind shell and try to imagine how that big, fat locust got out of that shell and left it in tact.  I like bugs, but now snakes, that's a different story.

[Cari63]

Here in southern North Carolina, we call them "locusts" (even though the biology teacher at school tries to explain to us that they're not really locusts -- just some distant cousin).  Anyway, that's what I've always called them, so they're locusts to me.

We haven't seen too many around this year, but I do love to hear a group of them "singing" at dusk.  Throw in some frogs croaking and a Bob White or two...Ah, the sounds of a country summer night...

We usually find the shells they leave behind -- and they'll leave them anywhere!  I always look for the most perfect left-behind shell and try to imagine how that big, fat locust got out of that shell and left it in tact.  I like bugs, but now snakes, that's a different story.

They call them locust in New Orleans too- I didn't know there weren't locust until I moved to Ga five years ago. I would have argued with anyone that yes, they were locust!
They have a few here, but not loud- I miss the deafening sound of them- its one of the things I forget about until I go home. The cicadas and the dragon flies- I miss the big huge dragon flies, in La they are everywhere, here they are rare to see.
I like snakes and bugs.....rats are my enemy...

[willowtreewren]

What I was hearing was a very strange sound that I've never heard before, like a cicada on steroids.

Linda, your area may be in its 17 year cycle when you have a bumper crop. The sound is amazing! On steroids would be a good way to describe it! 

[paris]

I had three of my grands with me today and we spent time outside (I am the nature grandparent).  We found over 20 cicada shells on the maple tree. The kids were very excited and we all got to hold them. The AJ decided to step on his.  Nature lesson over    We did go on to find other exciting things, but the shells were the hit of the day.

[willowtreewren]

We have one hanging on our mailbox. One of these days it will fall off, but the shell has been there for about a week now.

 

[Hanify]

If you don't like the look of a cicada - you should have a look at this beauty.  It's a NZ native called a weta...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_32VewfDCBWk/SWFnOW1irnI/AAAAAAAAB-I/V6YSJlplxOs/s400/giant_weta.jpg

You may never visit New Zealand now!!

[Hanify]

To be honest though - these exist here, but you don't run into them all the time or anything.  I've only ever seen little versions of wetas.

[okarol]

We don't have them here. And this year there were no mosquitoes!

[willowtreewren]

All your mosquitoes are here in East Tennessee, Karol. It is the worst year I ever remember! Ugh!