Cicadas!

[sharkeeper]

They are making a racket right now...

Anyone else hear the buggers?

NOTE: Some people incorrectly call them locusts. Locusts are swarming grasshoppers.

Cicadas

The BIG cycle is 17 years. Our last attack was in 1987.

Looks like next summer is going to be interesting...

-DAK-

 

[Thraxen]

I used to catch those things as as kid. I would go outside at night and get them as they came out of the ground then put them in a jar with some sticks and watch them shed their old skin and spread their wings. Then just let them go in the morning.

 

[JonTheBaller]

http://saltthesandbox.org/cicada_hunt/CicadaKillers.htm OMG those look scary.

 

[sharkeeper]

Cicada killers, despite the massive stinger are generally peaceful wasps. They will not attack unless you REALLY go out of your way to provoke such an attack.

-DAK-

 

[JonTheBaller]

*is still scared*

 

[TekChik]

UGH! I'm getting shivers just looking at those pics. those are GROSS - not to mention the annoying sounds they make...

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
They are making a racket right now...

Anyone else hear the buggers?

NOTE: Some people incorrectly call them locusts. Locusts are swarming grasshoppers.

Cicadas

The BIG cycle is 17 years. Our last attack was in 1987.

Looks like next summer is going to be interesting...

-DAK-

cool website. I collected the shed skins as a kid

 

[MithShrike]

Aye we got cicadas every where here. Loud as hell.

 

[notfred]

I hate cicadas. They're almost as annoying as car alarms. I'm glad we don't get many of them around here.

 

[AgentBehemoth]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam

The BIG cycle is 17 years. Our last attack was in 1987.

-DAK-

Even though the cycle is 17 years they are present every year. It just so happens that the ones you hear today started years ago and the ones you'll hear next year will have spent the same amount of time getting here.

 

[sharkeeper]

Even though the cycle is 17 years they are present every year. It just so happens that the ones you hear today started years ago and the ones you'll hear next year will have spent the same amount of time getting here.

There are annual cicadas and differing broods of periodical cicadas. The periodicals are much more prominent and their songs are much more noticeable.

I remember going to a plant in Towson MD where they were so bad maintenance workers had to keep their windows of their trucks rolled up. Unless you enjoyed riding with a few dozen of these things flying everywhere! It was nuts. They had them on the news. Their song was so loud that the reporter had to shout as if doing a story in front of the stage of a rock concert! They used a sound level meter and it was a constant 95 dBA. That's so loud that if you worked outside, you would need (per OSHA) hearing protection for more than 4 hours of exposure. Ridiculous!

-DAK-