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Cicadas Coming to U.S. East Coast This Spring


Still Waters

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Oh, come on now, looks aren't everything. I mean, if you've waited 17 years I'm sure you wouldn't be too picky about who you share your DNA with...lol

Anyway, how can you tell a cute cicada from an ugly one? Lol

if Id waited 17 years Id worry about the angle of my dangle! Use it or lose it is what they say isnt it?

Yeh but I guess any port in a storm will do...

Actually I happen to be very handsome, no kidding...(so my mum says anyway) and I AM a bit fussy. But red knickers and black stockings usually convinces me :w00t: Maybe Cicadas have a similar color strategy???

.

Edited by seeder
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They are extremely loud and dogs eat them like candy. A terrifying looking bug but they really are harmless, well, mostly, they could make you deaf!!

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The people that make jewelry out of them are going to be in hog heaven. :yes:

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They are extremely loud and dogs eat them like candy. A terrifying looking bug but they really are harmless, well, mostly, they could make you deaf!!

But do you experience a plague amount of them as the OP suggests? Im curious, we dont have them here, thankfully!

The people that make jewelry out of them are going to be in hog heaven. :yes:

Really? Sounds cool? Which bit do they use, the 'body armor'? And what do they make?

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Really? Sounds cool? Which bit do they use, the 'body armor'? And what do they make?

Mostly they make earrings out of the iridescent wings .Google it...different people do different things with them. It's not my taste, but they aren't bad at all and at least they don't kill them. They find their poor little dead bodies all over the place.

Edited by Michelle
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And some people don't have cicadas in their country so never get to hear them, or hear anything about them - except from articles as per the OP... so far as I know we certainly dont have them in the UK...

New Forest cicada (Cicadetta montana) is native to the UK. If you are over 40 you probably won't hear it though (sound frequencies).

https://en.wikipedia...cadetta_montana

:)

If you are ever near the New Forest you could help 'The New Forest Cicada Project'. An app is being made for Android and iOS.

http://www.newforestcicada.info/

;)

Edited by smokeycat
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New Forest cicada (Cicadetta montana) is native to the UK. If you are over 40 you probably won't hear it though.

https://en.wikipedia...cadetta_montana

:)

If you are ever near the New Forest you could help 'The New Forest Cicada Project'. An app is being made for Android and iOS.

http://www.newforestcicada.info/

;)

But do the UK ones plague and make lots of noise every 17 years? Ive been with my boys in summer while they catch noisy grasshoppers, or try to! But never heard anything, I think, like a cicada! But then again what do I know!

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No unfortunately. They are rare and is regarded as endangered in the UK and over large parts of Europe.

:(

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. If you are over 40 you probably won't hear it though (sound frequencies).

;)

yeh and thats another reason I dont hear anything like them. :cry:

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if Id waited 17 years Id worry about the angle of my dangle! Use it or lose it is what they say isnt it?

Yeh but I guess any port in a storm will do...

Actually I happen to be very handsome, no kidding...(so my mum says anyway) and I AM a bit fussy. But red knickers and black stockings usually convinces me :w00t: Maybe Cicadas have a similar color strategy???

.

I don't know because we don't have them in Hawaii either but after 17 years and considering the sheer quantity of attendees to this party, I think it will be a mad frenzy of mating and not a lot of talk! lol!

Maybe a major factor for the males & females is whether the other is alive and not being snacked on...lol

They are extremely loud and dogs eat them like candy. A terrifying looking bug but they really are harmless, well, mostly, they could make you deaf!!

That is hilarious, the dogs must think it's mana from heaven! Lol! If love to see out

The people that make jewelry out of them are going to be in hog heaven. :yes:

I've seen some on TV they are pretty but look so fragile.

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In Australia we seem to get cicadas every year, green grocers, floury bakers, yellow mondays, black princes..the birds get blaze after a while and only eat the soft tail end leaving the poor cicada still walking around for hours.

Cicadas are beautiful, they have 3 jewels on their foreheads and are harmless, but make a racket like permanent tinnitus.Growing up in australia they were a hit when I was a kid , I remember getting kicked out of class because my pet cicada wouldnt shut up.. :innocent:

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But do you experience a plague amount of them as the OP suggests? Im curious, we dont have them here, thankfully!

Pretty much but not Biblical proportions. They make a mess, they leave their shells all over the place and they crunch...

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Well, I guess this is one positive to moving back to the west coast.

I'll stick with the useless box elder bugs, that serve no purpose whatsoever.

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Glad this is east coast...we had our brood pop up years ago here in Ohio.

There were so many I remember I went outside with a wiffle bat, randomly swung in the air, and hit one...don't judge, I was a teenager.

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I recorded those noisy little guys one time and if you play it back very loud it is great to get rid of unwanted visitors. :yes:

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Time for some factoids then?

A cicada has three very different looks for the different stages of its life. First it starts off as an egg about the size of a grain of rice. When it hatches it is a creamy white nymph (nimf) with 4 little legs and two big pincer-like ones at the front, a bit like crabs claws. When it becomes an adult cicada it looses the pincer-like legs at the front and instead has 6 little legs and four wings which are totally see through except for the veins running through them. An adult cicada’s colour depends on the type of cicada it is – they’re usually green or black or brown.

Cicada eggs are laid in the bark of trees by the female cicada.

When the nymph hatches out of the egg it drops out of the tree and onto the ground. It uses its big front claws to tunnel into the ground where it stays for up to 17 years for some species of cicada!

Underground the cicada eats the sap from tree roots using its rostrum which is like two straws in one. It spits saliva down one straw onto the tree root to break it down and then uses the other straw to suck up the root juices. Charming!

Adult cicadas don't seem to eat much.

The noise that an adult cicada makes is made by the male and is his way of attracting a girlfriend.

It's pretty tricky to tell the difference between male and female cicadas but the female has a sharper, pointy "bottom" than the males because she has an ovipositor for laying eggs with.

http://www.suzy.co.n...p?factsheet=229

But I agree, 17 years is a long time for a bug

Thanks!

1297207367-the_more_you_know2.jpg

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Love cicadas, you always know the heat is coming when they're out singing in the trees.

Not to mention, when they get caught by a bird or another insect, they make that loud screeching... I would too if I waited 17 years only to be eaten by a bird...

well heres something else that eats them,Its called a cicada Killer,its a wasp about 2 to-3 inches long that hunts them,and takes them down a hole in the ground where it lays eggs on it and when they hatch the larva eat it and grow.These Wasp have one heck of a sting and will make you cry,I know Ive been stung.Look it up and you guys will see what I ment about big wasp.
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Pretty much but not Biblical proportions. They make a mess, they leave their shells all over the place and they crunch...

Add a little salt, then dip liberally in aioli. Exquisite!

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well heres something else that eats them,Its called a cicada Killer,its a wasp about 2 to-3 inches long that hunts them,and takes them down a hole in the ground where it lays eggs on it and when they hatch the larva eat it and grow.These Wasp have one heck of a sting and will make you cry,I know Ive been stung.Look it up and you guys will see what I ment about big wasp.

I was just about to comment on that when Michelle mentioned the jewelry made from the dead parts of these animals. It'd be something if cicada killers chased after someone wearing those items. I don't know if they spot the cicadas by the markings or the sound or smell but they find them... I know I wouldn't want to be stung by one of those, they look like hornets on steroids...

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I was just about to comment on that when Michelle mentioned the jewelry made from the dead parts of these animals. It'd be something if cicada killers chased after someone wearing those items. I don't know if they spot the cicadas by the markings or the sound or smell but they find them... I know I wouldn't want to be stung by one of those, they look like hornets on steroids...

well if they were on steroids they would have a very mean temper,these guys are realyl calm and non violent,But just dont stand on top of their hole or poke at them,standing on their holes kinda makes them mad and they have a bad habbit of flying up your shirt tail or pants leg,The sting will drop you to your knees,and since they are wasps they keep on stinging till they are free or dead,and will leave a welt the size of a hail tennis ball on your body that will hurt for days,ouch believe me,not a good feeling and was sick for days.What a feeling. also they sound like a little buzz chopper when they pass by and you can hear them comming and going,I see them all the time down by the river,but they live in the ground and have no nest so bumping into one is down right impossable but they live by water or a water source and make holes in the ground about 1-2 inches in diameter and about 2-3 feet deep. Edited by The Unseen
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