Scarlet Pimpernel

Oh wait...I thought H2O meant now retiring after 50 cicada emergences...not 50 years!!! But seriously...congrats on that!

LOL!! Well, the rain the other day should help wash away some of the carcasses and shells at least! They do enrich and aerate the soil!

Yeah same here! It's almost like when a big HECS winds down, after a long time following its development and then all the observations as it occurs...then it's done. With the exception that we didn't have Ji canceling the event 100 times with every model run or complaining that 65 inches of ECMWF snow was taken away and he's only getting 25!! I was in this area for the 2004 emergence, which was pretty cool. However, this time I paid more attention to them than I did in 2004...looking for the holes and turrets, watching the emerging nymphs, noting the different songs, etc. I also got a lot of photos and some decent video. Like I've said before, I know some find them to be creepy/disgusting or annoying and loud...but personally I find their whole 17 year life cycle to be fascinating and kind of neat. I've always liked the sound of the summertime annual cicadas, but these are something pretty special in my opinion.

Definitely less sound now, but they are still kicking. They were relatively inactive with the rain all day Friday but came back some over the weekend most definitely. Today was a lot quieter. Cassinis seem to be the ones I hear most today, especially walking under certain trees...but also some faint "Phaaa-roooh" chorus too. Like others, I've seen a *lot* still flying around. Peak seems to have been Memorial Day through the first weekend or so of June, or there about. I'd say I've had a solid 3+ weeks of constant sound (outside those couple of cool, rainy days, though even then...), starting several days or so after I first noted them emerging in mid-May, on up to the present.

A cicada in the rain...

Which type is predominant right where you are, making that level of noise? I notice a lot of Cassinis here where I am, in some individual trees. But the overall "background" sound is the Septendecims. When the Cassinis are really going in the afternoon, that raspy hissing sound is quite loud when you walk past a tree they are in!

I noticed that, too. Some individual trees are just extreme with the noise.

Same here, seems to me that the peak was from about Memorial Day (right after the cool, rainy couple of days) through this past weekend. I still hear a lot and have seen quite a few flying around (maybe more than before?). Maybe the rain and cloud cover yesterday has dampened things somewhat, but I also think they're getting close to being done by this point. I guess they keep on with the singing until they either get eaten or just die from fatigue. I first really noticed the sound about 3 weeks ago, and I think they typically last 3-4 weeks.

That's cool! Didn't know about "land spouts". Years ago when I was on a trip in California, I saw a dust devil along the road...that was pretty neat.

Same around here, too, in the past week. I imagine we'll see more over the upcoming month as the eggs hatch. I've also observed many female cicadas laying eggs on tree branches and limbs.

We may suck at snow, but we excel at wind, earthquakes, and apparently cicadas!!

Can't say I've had them try to "drink" from my hand before, or lay eggs. Maybe you found a vamp-cada, trying to suck your blood! If you wake up tomorrow with an urge to yell "Phaaaaa-rooooh" all day long, that might be a concern!

Oh man, that sucks! I hope someone can get out to you and fix it correctly soon, finally! I definitely empathize with no AC in the heat. Our power went out (like most people's!) after the 2012 derecho for about 3 days. It was pushing 100 degrees the next couple of days after, and it r-e-a-l-l-y was not pleasant!

Make sure to clear your cicada board, and don't slant-stick!!

Yup, have been able to smell that cicada funk scent for a little while now. I guess a lot of the ones that emerged earliest are dying off, plus all the half-eaten ones left by birds or otherwise have gotten squashed and have been lying around on the sidewalks or the street. Anyone else hear them at night ever? I swear the last several I've heard them well after sunset (and even toward the middle of the night). Not as loud as during the day, but still clearly. I've heard that they might be "active" around artificial lighting like street lights, etc. But in general they don't do anything while dark. There's plenty of street lights and other building lighting around here.

Yeah, still pretty loud where I am too. And definitely a lot more flying about, all over the place, over the past several days.

@H2O's video recording of his first experience of an emergence...

So you're like Brigadoon then, but on the cicada cycle. You wake up every 17 years to a new emergence, but only age a day in that time!!

Huh...cash, eh? I thought he would only take weenie souls as payment! So even the Reaper and his Four Horsemen of the Snowpocalypse have given in to the all-mighty mortal dollar!!

Rippin' cadas!! They're flying all over, too!

Haha!! I've actually found myself "saving" a number that are sitting there on the sidewalk, picking them up and gently placing them on a tree! What's interesting is that for as clumsily as they fly, they have quite the grip when clinging to something. If you let them get on your finger, for instance, they really stick to you and it's hard to get them off onto a tree branch! I guess that's why they can lie upside down so easily!

Thanks! Yeah if you look closely enough you can see the ones laying eggs. I actually saw quite a bit of that going on in the past few days, and even saw some "tree flagging" beginning (where limbs turn brown and hang). Was able to get a ~3 minute video of a female laying eggs in a twig, among a few photos. Pretty cool! I'm going to actually miss these little buggers when they're done this time around. Glad I have a lot of pictures from this one (didn't get too many from 2004), and some neat video. We'll see the next generation in 17 years then! Hell, by that time I'll be nearly as old as @H2O, I can sit there on my porch and yell at the cicadas to "get off my lawn...and outta my trees!!"

Cicada coastal has really taken over this week, with a full tuck and stall. High ratio banding!

Seems the Cassinis are late risers compared to Septendecim. In the morning I don't really hear them (only hear the din of Septendecim) but by noon they are going strong! And pretty sure I heard Septendecula at one point, the "tick tick tick tick" clock sound.