After 17 years they're back! Cicadas

[wngsprd]

Took these photos of emerging 17-year cicadas on Sunday - it was very windy, so a couple of them aren't the best. The news says they are part of a brood that is hatching in the east from Conn. down to the Carolinas after 17 years underground. I still remember the damage they did to the trees 17 years ago after laying their eggs. Maybe last night's late season frost took out some of them. The last photo shows one drying its wings.

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[clemsonfor]

We had them last year. I live in upstate/midstate south carolina, along the GA line. Ours were last year, none this year.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Took these photos of emerging 17-year cicadas on Sunday - it was very windy, so a couple of them aren't the best. The news says they are part of a brood that is hatching in the east from Conn. down to the Carolinas after 17 years underground. I still remember the damage they did to the trees 17 years ago after laying their eggs. Maybe last night's late season frost took out some of them. The last photo shows one drying its wings.

View attachment 317745View attachment 317746View attachment 317747View attachment 317748View attachment 317749.

Time to set out a trot line!

 

[Ted Summey]

I bet they do make good fish bait -"They" say cicadas taste like shrimp!

 

[dmccarty]

We have not seen/heard the Cicadas this year. Not sure we will but I hope we do though they make a heck of a racket.

Years ago I was reading an article, I think in the Smithsonian Magazine, about people living around the Great Salt Lake. These were people living thousands of years ago and one of the questions was how would be survive in that area. One possible answer was grasshoppers. :licking::shocked: They noticed that grasshoppers would fly over the lake but would not have the ability to reach shore so the insects would drown in the salt water. Wind would blow the salt incrusted grasshoppers to shore where they were very easy to harvest. The boffins sent the grasshoppers off to the lab and a cup of the wee insects was as many calories as a Big Mac... Not sure Jiminy Cricket's cousins taste as good as a Big Mac though....

Well, I know grasshoppers do not taste as good as a Big Mac. They ain't bad though.

The Science Museum in Raleigh has an event called Bug Fest and we went years ago when the kids were around four and six. Part of Bug Fest is bug food. Not food that bugs eat, but food that people eat containing bugs. :laughing::laughing::laughing: They had jello and cookies with ants as well as a stir fry with grasshoppers. You really could not taste the bugs though there was a nice crunch with the ants and grasshoppers. :shocked:

What was funny was that our kids really wanted the cookies even though there were ants sprinkled on top. I had brought a couple of cookies for the kids, they would not eat the jello or the stir fry :confused3:, but they were a bit iffy about eating the cookies. They could SEE the ants. The ants looked like little sprinkles. :laughing::laughing::laughing: The kids really wanted the cookies but they did not want to eat the ants. They kept asking me if those really were ants on the cookies and I kept saying yes. They wanted those cookies bad. They kept asking if I was telling them the truth about the ant cookies. They wanted the cookies but did not want the ants and they could not believe someone would put ants on cookies. In the end, they decided that I was lying about the ants so I could eat their cookies, and they ate the cookies ants and all. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

We still laugh about this today.

Ants are easy. They just crunch. Grasshoppers crunch but the problem is the legs and antennae sticking in your teeth which kinda grosses people out. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[creekbend]

We haven't seen or heard of any yet in our location. My Wife hates the noise they make. I agree with the "Trot Line" idea. Surely everyone has a few plastic milk jugs lying around.:licking:

 

[farmgirl19]

I have always loved the sound the cicadas make around here. They are big, but not the 17 year variety. We get them every summer!

dmccarty; I am not squimish, but eating ants and grasshoppers, would definitely get me on a DIET (no matter if needed, or not). Some things, I just don't think I'd be able to do!

 

[legbuh]

I think people are confusing cicadas and locusts. We have cicadas every year. But the mass infestation of locusts seems to be every few years.

We hear them all summer singing away (annoying sounds) and every tree in our yard has the empty shells on them.

 

[xring100]

I think people are confusing cicadas and locusts. We have cicadas every year. But the mass infestation of locusts seems to be every few years.

We hear them all summer singing away (annoying sounds) and every tree in our yard has the empty shells on them.

Cicadas in michigan are long cycle 17 years some areas of us are 13 years.

http://insects.about.com/od/truebugs/tp/cicadabroodmaps.htm

http://www.cicadamania.com/where.html

 

[Ted Summey]

Finally heard them today. No loud but definitely cicadas! I am sure it will be worse before it is better.

We too have cicadas every year but not in the numbers of the 17 year hatch.

 

[Baby Grand]

Brood II is due here soon ... still quiet.

 

[ragkar]

Remove the legs and wings and then saute them in butter and lemon.
They are suppose to be a bit crunchy with a soft center.

 

[sshaw]

Took these photos of emerging 17-year cicadas on Sunday - it was very windy, so a couple of them aren't the best. The news says they are part of a brood that is hatching in the east from Conn. down to the Carolinas after 17 years underground. I still remember the damage they did to the trees 17 years ago after laying their eggs. Maybe last night's late season frost took out some of them. The last photo shows one drying its wings.

I started seeing these at my house in Beaverdam on Friday night. An unusually high percentage of them seemed to be coming out with deformed wings. I also thought it was strange that none of them were buzzing yet. I'm very interested to see how the fish in my pond react to the bonanza of insect food.

 

[MossRoad]

Took these photos of emerging 17-year cicadas on Sunday - it was very windy, so a couple of them aren't the best. The news says they are part of a brood that is hatching in the east from Conn. down to the Carolinas after 17 years underground. I still remember the damage they did to the trees 17 years ago after laying their eggs. Maybe last night's late season frost took out some of them. The last photo shows one drying its wings.

View attachment 317745View attachment 317746View attachment 317747View attachment 317748View attachment 317749.

I'd be curious to know how they damaged the trees?
Most experts say they are beneficial.
Will the 17-Year Cicadas Damage My Trees?

 

[wngsprd]

I'd be curious to know how they damaged the trees?
Most experts say they are beneficial.
Will the 17-Year Cicadas Damage My Trees?

I don't remember them killing any of my trees, but they can mess them up. The females lay their eggs into the smaller stems of the branches of trees. Since this kills these branches, the big trees turn brown on their periphery but survive just fine. The branch stems later fall off. But smaller trees, especially some of the fruit trees, take a real beating like a really bad prune job.

 

[TCJatko]

Remove the legs and wings and then saute them in butter and lemon.
They are suppose to be a bit crunchy with a soft center.

Cicadas: They're not just for breakfast any more. Yum!

 

[wngsprd]

I don't think that I'm going to cook any, but when I took my lab retriever out this morning, I noticed her standing at the base of a large maple seeming to lick the ground for a long time. On closer inspection there were piles of empty cicada shells/cases and she was devouring them. The birds are hitting them hard, too...lots of wings laying around. I'm going to see how the smallmouth bass like them this afternoon.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I don't think that I'm going to cook any, but when I took my lab retriever out this morning, I noticed her standing at the base of a large maple seeming to lick the ground for a long time. On closer inspection there were piles of empty cicada shells/cases and she was devouring them. The birds are hitting them hard, too...lots of wings laying around. I'm going to see how the smallmouth bass like them this afternoon.

Last time this happened I was living in PA.....the largemouth LOVED them! Tons of action on the surface and they could not resist!

 

[dmccarty]

Back around the turn of the century, before we had land and kids, I had something that is now a distant dream, spare time. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing: I used to kayak on a large lake at least once a week and put in some serious miles out there. One year the Circadas were hatching and I was in a part of the lake that was almost completely land locked and fairly confined. The NOISE of those bugs was unreal and something I will never forget. I just stopped paddling and sat in the middle of this part of the lake and listened to the noise. Pretty awesome.

Later,
Dan

 

[jerrybob]

Remove the legs and wings and then saute them in butter and lemon.
They are suppose to be a bit crunchy with a soft center.

There is lots of talk about eating bugs these days.......

Eat Bugs: They are Tasty, Healthy and Part of the New World Order | The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch

Bon appetit!