Cicadas (bugs)

Giaguara

Chmod 760
Staff member
Mod
It is a "bug year". There are cicadas only every 17 years.

cadashrb.jpg


That is how they look, they are quite big bugs.

They live on the Eastern side (map) of USA. The cicadas live on the roots of the trees, and it takes 17 years for them to mature. So every 17 years there are big amounts of these bugs flying around in May - June. This will (hopefully) be the first time for me to see the bugs. Here it is a bit early, so it is still a bit too cold for them to emerge. But they should be out some time in the next week(s).

Has anyone seen them (ever or) this year? Any pictures? I will have to keep the camera with me .. just in case. Everytime I am anywhere .. as you never know when there is something to take pictures of.

These bugs sound very interesting. :)
More about them:
http://www.msj.edu/cicada/index.html
http://www.cicadas.info
 
:D
What do they taste like?
Periodical cicadas are best eaten when they are still white (teneral), and they taste like cold canned asparagus. Like all insects, cicadas have a good balance of vitamins, are low in fat, and the females are especially high in protein. They are also Atkins friendly!

:confused: :)
 
Cicadas...I hate it when these things decide to show up for their little 'love' sessions. You can't walk outside without getting hit at least 20 times in the first minute by the things...like a bunch of drunk flyers they are. Then there's the constant sound...gets really annoying after a while. Ruined 1987 I tell you!

Ours should have been here a week or two ago, so they must be on strike. The suburbs of Cincinnati have seen em, but we've yet to see any here (10 miles southwest, near the airport). The ground hit 64 deg 3 weeks ago actually, but it was so hard and dry they said we'd need a good rain for them to emerge. For the past 10 days we've had the rain, still no bugs.
 
They're big, ugly and noisy. I'm about to turn 36, and this'll be my 3rd cicada year. I have to admit that I don't remember the first one (1970) too well... but you never forget the sound.

They're REALLY LOUD and nothing else that sounds like them. When they hatched in 1987, even though I hadn't heard them since I was 2, I immediately recognized the noise. "Oh THOSE things," I thought. "I haven't heard those in a long time..."

My dad told me they were cicadas, and he was amazed that I remembered the sound.
 
I'm just dreading the windshield issue. When these things go splat, THEY GO SPLAT!

You cursed us, BTW. When I was unloading the groceries from the back of my blazer about 1/2 hour ago I looked down and there's one of those ugly things crawling around in a puddle in our driveway.
 
Yeah we get them in NZ too, but they have gone now as its nearly winter here. Oscar my oldest boy likes collecting the dried-out skins –*nice. I love the sound of cicadas over summer. Its also fun trying t locate a cicada thats got lost in your home. I don't think we have the amounts that the US have though.

eric
 
yeah but in New Zealand we get them every year. Still 16 years in the ground but there are 16 generations going all the time - always ready to pounch on your nice quite summer evenings... and mornings for that matter... infact i dont think they ever shut up. Stupid bugs...
 
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
Why??? Just...why??....

I haven't seen them in forever, but I remember they were ugly and noisy. This was when I used to live in Long Island. I haven't seen many of them in Miami (my current place of residence), but I still remember how much I hated them... :rolleyes:
 
Down in Corpus Christi (TX) where I used to live, we got them every year. I used to go pick the shells up when I was a kid, too. Used to hang them on my shirt. ;)

I never tried to eat them (the bugs, not the shells :p), though...

I haven't really paid attention here in Delaware, though. I think there are usually some of them around, but there's a lot of them every 17 years or something like that.
 
Back
Top