17-Year-Cicada of Northeast US

[comrade_general]

I'll try to post updates of my observations here.

17 April 2016
I saw my first glimpse of the swarm this morning - one of the few times I'd seen a cicada still in its earthly shell. Normally I only see the empty shells after they have crawled a few feet up a tree and left the empty skin still grasping the bark, a small slit on its back where it had squeezed out from.

This specimen had just dragged itself out of its earthly home, where it had been buried for the last 17 years! I'll probably lose track of this guy as he crawls away (he's moving in super-slow-motion for now), but the swarm is just beginning.

[Jubal]

Look forward to seeing more

[Glaurung]

Likewise. We don't have anything like this in the UK, or (as far as I know) elsewhere in Europe.

[comrade_general]

Haven't seen anything else yet. That guy must have been a very early riser.

[Jubal]

Other cicadas pranked him by mis-setting his alarm

[comrade_general]

They are stone cold bastards.

[Jubal]

Speaking of that, how do the hibernating cicadas deal with body temperature? Do they burrow low enough to get below frost level, or can they just deal with sub-zero when hibernating?

[comrade_general]

Don't know. But they shouldn't have to go too deep to avoid the frost. They are active while down there though, eating roots and stuff.

[Glaurung]

They are active while down there though, eating roots and stuff.

Reminds me of the "world tree" Yggdrasil from Norse mythology, whose roots are gnawed continually by serpents.

[Jubal]

Any news?

[comrade_general]

Nope, nothing yet.  Haven't heard them or anything. They make a distinctive buzzing sound.

[comrade_general]

26 May 2016

Hadn't seen anything at my place or down south where we were working, but at my boss's place there were several dozen, maybe hundreds, of shells all over the ground and left attached to the corner of his garage. Most were empty already but some newly transformed cicadas were still hanging out before flying away.

28 May 2016

Don't seem to have as many around my place, yet. This morning I saw an empty shell, a cicada in mid-transformation emerging from a shell, and one already out and ready to go all within inches of one another. It's pretty neat how their wings expand. Still not hearing their buzzing anywhere.

[Jubal]

D'aww, they're kinda cute

[comrade_general]

That guy at the bottom's doing lifts.

[Jubal]

Gotta make the gains before the carapace hardens again, right?