Cicadas
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I haven't seen any here. Last time I looked at a map of cicada sightings, they ended in east Oklahoma. Our house is very literally just on the border of the former prairie. We can see I-35 from our front yard, and I've heard that the interstate and, before that, the railroad, were built on the prairie side of the prairie/woodland interface, so that they wouldn't have to cut all those trees. (I've also heard that this is oversimplified and also that the Indigenous people had modified the ecosystems in the area, so take that information that for what it's worth.) Anyway, that possible prairie-border may demarcate the edge of the cicadas' preferred ecosystem.
I know that they had apocalyptic grasshopper swarms periodically in this kind of ecosystem in the nineteenth century, so I guess it all depends on the insect.
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I was channeling my inner @Piano-Dad today vis a vis cicadas (he moves them off the roadway when he's out for a walk)...I was working my way along the sidewalk, edging the lawn before I mowed. I spotted a cicada who was going to get clobbered, so I moved him/her. I figured they had waited 17 years to lose their virginity, and who was I to cut that dream short.
I hope they have a good time tonight.
When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aum么nier
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Walking down Michigan Ave. this evening after dinner (downtown next to symphony center) I heard my first cicada in the city coming from a tree...
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I haven鈥檛 heard any down here yet.
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The cicadas are here. As with all bug related sightings I know this because a student brought one to me on the playground
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The serviceberries are abundant this year. I think that's because the birds that normally eat the serviceberries are gorging on cicadas and have no appetite for dessert. We like this. More berries for me.
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I鈥檝e never heard of a service berry!
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They're definitely winding down here. Can still hear them, but they aren't as loud as they were a couple of weeks ago. And we don't see any on the driveway or on the bricks on the house.
Haven't seen any zombie cicadas. https://www.nbcchicago.com/cicadas-illinois-chicago-2024/are-you-seeing-this-on-cicadas-in-your-area-it-could-be-a-fungus-that-turns-them-into-zombies/3460833/
Au revoir, buggies. See you again in 17 years.
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They're gone, but signs of their recent visit are abundant...and I've been blaming inept squirrel nest builders for dropping chewed off branches on the lawn...turns out it's not the rodents...
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Still heard some tuning in the western burbs today...
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We're hearing the usual ones we get every year. Saw one on the bricks of our house and it doesn't have the red eyes. Their call is quite a bit different, too.
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Didn鈥檛 hear any cicadas this year, but the Canadian Soldiers (Mayflies) have been intense!
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We have bonus bugs, courtesy of the cicadas.
Mites:
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I had a random bite on my legs after tuning in an area that had cicada swarms. I though a mosquito got me...
Now I have a few more up around my shoulders. Mom confirms the mites are nasty in her neighborhood, where I stop by once a week... At least I know what they are!Way itchy...
