Cicada Invasion

[GregVirginia7]

Wondering if the cicadas will do any damage to my palms...I remember well the damage they did to the local trees last time around...my palms weren’t here then...seems to me the petioles are way too hard...hope that’s the case. Seems the cool spring (May) we’ve had did a number on them as a lot are DOA up to splitting their shell and climbing out...also have seen a lot of dead ones with malformed wings but still billions to go...

[PalmatierMeg]

I remember cicadas well from my years in VA. Maybe I'm wrong but I remember reading that adult cicadas do not feed at all, that they live for only a brief period to reproduce, then die. The larvae that live underground for 17 years feed on plant roots, I believe. The adults fly around, cause a ruckus and frighten people but are harmless.

[Chester B]

2 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I remember cicadas well from my years in VA. Maybe I'm wrong but I remember reading that adult cicadas do not feed at all, that they live for only a brief period to reproduce, then die. The larvae that live underground for 17 years feed on plant roots, I believe. The adults fly around, cause a ruckus and frighten people but are harmless.

I thought the same thing so looked it up.  Apparently adults do feed, they suck the xylem from branches and trunks with a straw like mouthpart.

[NCFM]

As long as they don't feast on my palms,  I'm actually looking forward to the hatch.  This may be an unpopular opinion but I love the sound the sound of cicadas on a warm summer night

[Silas_Sancona]

7 minutes ago, NC_Palm_Enthusiast said:

As long as they don't feast on my palms,  I'm actually looking forward to the hatch.  This may be an unpopular opinion but I love the sound the sound of cicadas on a warm summer night

..Only unpopular to someone who hates nature, or grown humans with an overly exaggerated fear insects..

We have different Cicadas here ( Arizona is apparently a species rich area for them. 70 species  here apparently.. ) that should be emerging soon.. Our species typically emerge annually, or within 3 - 5 years of hatching.. usually ahead of the region's summer Monsoon season ( regardless if we actually get rain )

Sound of Cicadas, Common True Katydids, and nightly Firefly shows  is " Summer " pretty much anywhere back east.  Add in Frogs / Toads after a good summer storm.

[GregVirginia7]

5 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I remember cicadas well from my years in VA. Maybe I'm wrong but I remember reading that adult cicadas do not feed at all, that they live for only a brief period to reproduce, then die. The larvae that live underground for 17 years feed on plant roots, I believe. The adults fly around, cause a ruckus and frighten people but are harmless.

Problem is, the females drill holes and deposit their eggs in the twiggy growth of hardwoods and various other trees. Those twigs die and break off over time and hit the ground...the larvae spill out at this point and head underground to suck on tree roots for the next 17-years...palm petioles look like nice targets but again, I’m hoping they’re too hard or maybe they’ll just be too foreign to them since they may only be attracted to native Virginia tree species and they’ll ignore them. 

[sipalms]

2 hours ago, NC_Palm_Enthusiast said:

As long as they don't feast on my palms,  I'm actually looking forward to the hatch.  This may be an unpopular opinion but I love the sound the sound of cicadas on a warm summer night

Have been reading a bit about this incredible hatch.

What kind of noise do these cicadas make?

I have heard the Dog-day cicadas many times in Canada (in Ontario), they make a buzz-saw type sound which gets louder and louder and louder then abruptly stops; http://songsofinsects.com/cicadas/dog-day-cicada 

Here in New Zealand they make a totally different sort off noise which is pretty rhythmic...

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by sipalms

[Silas_Sancona]

20 minutes ago, sipalms said:

Have been reading a bit about this incredible hatch.

What kind of noise do these cicadas make?

I have heard the Dog-day cicadas many times in Canada (in Ontario), they make a buzz-saw type sound which gets louder and louder and louder then abruptly stops; http://songsofinsects.com/cicadas/dog-day-cicada 

Here in New Zealand they make a totally different sort off noise which is pretty rhythmic...

 

Go here: 
https://www.cicadamania.com/

You can look up different species / audio recordings of various calls, research life cycles, etc...

[teddytn]

The brood is coming!!!!

[NCFM]

5 hours ago, sipalms said:

Have been reading a bit about this incredible hatch.

What kind of noise do these cicadas make?

I have heard the Dog-day cicadas many times in Canada (in Ontario), they make a buzz-saw type sound which gets louder and louder and louder then abruptly stops; http://songsofinsects.com/cicadas/dog-day-cicada 

Here in New Zealand they make a totally different sort off noise which is pretty rhythmic...

 

Those NZ ciacadas sound really cool.  Quite different from what I'm used to.

Here's what they sound like in my neck of the woods.  They get so loud at night sometimes in the summer that you basically have to yell when talking to someone more than 10 feet away outside.  I'm no cicada expert so I couldn't tell you their names, but there seem to be different species that make different noises during different times of the day.

Generally those that chirp during the night sound like this:

And the ones that chirp during the day typically sound like this:

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by NC_Palm_Enthusiast

[Silas_Sancona]

Think the standard Cicada is loud.. ***Might turn down your volume for these**:

Megapomponia sp.  ..which includes M. imperatoria, which is the largest Cicada sp. in the world.  Too bad we don't have them in the states.

Wouldn't mind these in my yard either..

 

[bar]

How interesting!  Each cicada has a different sound.  Back on Long Island in eastern Nassau county we had a totally different type.  The sound was something almost like an impact sprinkler: 

Click-----Click-----Click- --Click-Click-ClickClciClickClickClick.:PZZzzzt. That's the best I can describe it.  So  loud you could not carry on a conversation.  But only in the heat of day.  As soon as the temperature cooled, they shut down for the evening.  I'm thinking that July was peak season there. When I moved thirty miles east to mid Suffolk county, no cicadas at all.  Their domains are very specific and local, it seems.

 

Bruce

[sipalms]

2 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Wouldn't mind these in my yard either..

Wow that second one is incredible. What a beautiful creature.

[Meangreen94z]

They were an annual thing in Houston. I’m not sure on the species. To me they sounded like a summer afternoon.

[climate change virginia]

they eat my fig trees very annoying

[Chester B]

Back in Ontario I guess they are an annual insect.  When the heat of the day hits they start.  This persons description is spot on, when I was a kid I thought it was the power lines.

 

[ShadyDan]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

Back in Ontario I guess they are an annual insect.  When the heat of the day hits they start.  This persons description is spot on, when I was a kid I thought it was the power lines.

I kind of miss the sound from growing up in Southern Ontario. Some August days could be deafening with the buzzing. Definitely reminds me hot, humid summer days and nights which we don’t really get here. 
 

For anyone concerned about their plants, why not eat the cicadas before they eat your plants?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/130515-cicadas-recipes-food-cooking-bugs-nation-animals

Bon appetit!

[sipalms]

2 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

I kind of miss the sound from growing up in Southern Ontario. Some August days could be deafening with the buzzing. Definitely reminds me hot, humid summer days and nights which we don’t really get here. 

Exactly the same for me. That sound is synonymous with several summers spent in the humid heat of southern Ontario which I never experience here in southern NZ.

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

I kind of miss the sound from growing up in Southern Ontario. Some August days could be deafening with the buzzing. Definitely reminds me hot, humid summer days and nights which we don’t really get here. 
 

For anyone concerned about their plants, why not eat the cicadas before they eat your plants?

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/130515-cicadas-recipes-food-cooking-bugs-nation-animals

Bon appetit!

People are eating Crickets more and more often, so why not add Cicadas right?  During the last emergence in 2004, i can remember people going out and collecting them from the woods behind the apartment i lived in when in Ohio. Was told they taste like Shrimp. Despise seafood so a big nope from me, lol.

Then again, always have to watch out for the sex crazed, zombie types
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/05/19/cicada-fungus-sex-drive/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

[NCFM]

13 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

People are eating Crickets more and more often, so why not add Cicadas right? 

No thanks   

I have noticed that my dog loves to eat them, though

[ShadyDan]

20 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

People are eating Crickets more and more often, so why not add Cicadas right?  During the last emergence in 2004, i can remember people going out and collecting them from the woods behind the apartment i lived in when in Ohio. Was told they taste like Shrimp. Despise seafood so a big nope from me, lol.

Then again, always have to watch out for the sex crazed, zombie types
https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/05/19/cicada-fungus-sex-drive/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

I would try them! If anyone wants to whip up a batch of Cajun style cicadas send them out my way haha. I mean when you think of it, what’s so different about a cicada than a prawn or crayfish, right? I can taste the crunchy yumminess already...

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, ShadyDan said:

I would try them! If anyone wants to whip up a batch of Cajun style cicadas send them out my way haha. I mean when you think of it, what’s so different about a cicada than a prawn or crayfish, right? I can taste the crunchy yumminess already...

Couldn't do it, lol

Have thought about trying something made of cricket meal, esp. since it is believed they contain more protein than many other things though..

Honestly, when you think about it, there are likely already a certain amount of ground up insects in things like Flour, cold Cereal, Crackers, etc.. Mikey likes it!
 

[ShadyDan]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Couldn't do it, lol

Have thought about trying something made of cricket meal, esp. since it is believed they contain more protein than many other things though..

Honestly, when you think about it, there are likely already a certain amount of ground up insects in things like Flour, cold Cereal, Crackers, etc.. Mikey likes it!
 

Not to mention all the black flies I probably ate when I worked in northern Ontario.  Mmmmmmm protein....

[Silas_Sancona]

Out watering / spritzing down shade cloth covering stuff around sunset, heard the first Citrus ( also called Apache here ) Cicada ( Diceroprocta apache ) of Summer 2021.  We'll see if the old tale regarding the first real Monsoon rains arriving roughly 2 weeks after you first start hearing them holds true this year..  With a 3-5 year life cycle, this brood would have been born in 2016, 17, or 18. 

2018 was the last " good " summer rainy season for AZ.

[GregVirginia7]

Well, the cicadas are pretty much spent here. The canopies of all the local, native trees are browning here and there from the female’s drilling and laying of eggs...dead twig ends are already falling to the ground. I see no damage whatsoever to my palm petioles so that’s a good thing. My assumptions are, palms don’t necessarily belong here and they don’t recognize them as a good place to drill or the petioles are indeed, too hard to drill into. There were plenty of them that climbed out of the ground and up the palms to shed their shell and harden off to fly around and terrorize everyone  But I do think they prefer the outer reaches of the softer deciduous canopies’ newer growth to carry on their duties of survival of the species. As far as eating them, they’re prone to a horror movie kind of fungal infection that causes their abdomen to fall off...the other half kind of lays there and flails around like a short circuiting mini robot...the abdomen is full of the fungal growth. So, not sure at what stage some people want to eat them but I’d make sure they were thoroughly cooked  I do know my dog could not digest the hard exoskeleton and we thought it would be a trip to the vet for him but it did pass, so to speak, and it was horrifying so again, I’d recommend not eating them since a dog’s digestive system is far more aggressive than ours.