Post by trehopr1 on Aug 30, 2021 10:11:59 GMT -8
Here in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. our assorted species
of "Annual" cicada's reached their peak activity levels last week.
It was a good year for them as conditions must have been optimal.
Our annual cicada's are generally called that because they are
annually with us every year. Unlike, periodical cicada's which
emerge en-masse in a timed cycle.
There are actually several very similar looking species appearing
in "camouflage" colors of black/green with clear wings. Their broods
vary in length and overlap each other; hence ordinary folks think
they are all of one species !
Actually, if one listens closely each has a differing chorus
or (song). Each year, sometime during the first week of July
they begin emerging from underground and here and there you
will hear one chorus.
In the coming weeks many more emerge and pretty soon the regular
"drumming" of cicada song becomes part a summers experience here.
Below, is an example of one of these noisy fellows...
So, last week was easily the noisiest week (I believe) yet
experienced and surely the peak of their activity. However,
with this comes the "final curtain" or closing of the stage.
On a personal observance (made over the years here); a
"behavioral" change occurs in our cicada's. Now, as if they
know they have lived a full life and have exhausted all their
energies they begin to show up at night under streetlights,
parking lot lights, and even some building lights.
Whereas, before you would only hear them but, rarely ever
find one (unless somehow injured); they now "fly toward the light"
and into history...
At lights their time is often short. Walking at night one will see many
"flattened" by many a car tire. Also, racoons, possums, and skunks
make many an easy meal of them. Those which survive until the
daylight are either snapped up by early morning birds or simply die
exhausted, spent, and used up. These become proverbial "ant food".
And yet, though one cycle of life is ending now -- another is only
just beginning. Once again, the offspring of these will one day
emerge from the ground and chorus and cavort once again in the
trees (as their parents did) and as their kind has for millennia....
of "Annual" cicada's reached their peak activity levels last week.
It was a good year for them as conditions must have been optimal.
Our annual cicada's are generally called that because they are
annually with us every year. Unlike, periodical cicada's which
emerge en-masse in a timed cycle.
There are actually several very similar looking species appearing
in "camouflage" colors of black/green with clear wings. Their broods
vary in length and overlap each other; hence ordinary folks think
they are all of one species !
Actually, if one listens closely each has a differing chorus
or (song). Each year, sometime during the first week of July
they begin emerging from underground and here and there you
will hear one chorus.
In the coming weeks many more emerge and pretty soon the regular
"drumming" of cicada song becomes part a summers experience here.
Below, is an example of one of these noisy fellows...
So, last week was easily the noisiest week (I believe) yet
experienced and surely the peak of their activity. However,
with this comes the "final curtain" or closing of the stage.
On a personal observance (made over the years here); a
"behavioral" change occurs in our cicada's. Now, as if they
know they have lived a full life and have exhausted all their
energies they begin to show up at night under streetlights,
parking lot lights, and even some building lights.
Whereas, before you would only hear them but, rarely ever
find one (unless somehow injured); they now "fly toward the light"
and into history...
At lights their time is often short. Walking at night one will see many
"flattened" by many a car tire. Also, racoons, possums, and skunks
make many an easy meal of them. Those which survive until the
daylight are either snapped up by early morning birds or simply die
exhausted, spent, and used up. These become proverbial "ant food".
And yet, though one cycle of life is ending now -- another is only
just beginning. Once again, the offspring of these will one day
emerge from the ground and chorus and cavort once again in the
trees (as their parents did) and as their kind has for millennia....
