Scarlet Pimpernel

It's serious now. Trees have caved!

This must be one of the lost commandments on the 3rd tablet that Moses (errrrr, Mel Brooks!) dropped in "History of the World"!!

This year we get "treated" to both, of course!! I actually don't mind the annual ones so much. At least the ones that have that sort of rapid whirring sound like shaking maracas (like a "ch-ch-ch-ch-chhhh"). But there is one kind that has sort of an annoying buzzing that sounds almost electrical which is not as pleasant.

Definitely hearing them clearly...the "chorus" is closer to me and louder now (is the "cicadar" filling in??? ). Don't have to strain the ears to hear them, LOL! I walked over to the Audubon Nature Center (not far from me), and they are all over the place there as one might expect. Several trees coated with shells and very audible. I know there are 3 "magicicada" species (septendecim, septendecula, and cassini), with the septendecim I guess being the most common and loudest with the "Phaaa-rohhhh" sound. In one tree at the Audubon center, I was able to clearly hear the cassini ones too, with the "hissing" sound. Got some photos, here are a couple:

Same here, can definitely hear them closer in now, a steady din that comes and goes. At least we're not seeing these flying around...

Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!!

LOL!! Could always threaten people with that gelled spaghetti-o and wiener dish. Or just make it your birthday cake!!

Everyone get off @H2O's lawn, before he yells at you to leave!! He might sic the cicadas on you!

Interesting. I wonder if they are very sensitive to precise soil temperatures too. So if it's just warm enough a mile away where your daughter's school is, they are coming out...but your place is maybe just below the threshold still? Something like that. Or if it's been fairly undisturbed there in the past 17 years. Where I am, I saw a lot come out on like 2 or 3 large trees, over the course of a few nights. But this wooded area just across the street, which is pretty undisturbed...nothing, despite noticing a LOT of holes in the ground. Then suddenly last night, they were coming out in that wooded area all over the place. I can only guess that it was a hair cooler there until now (with a couple of very warm days). And those emerging looked to have become more widespread in the area I'm at last night (but that's a subjective take).

Oh my...I had forgotten (since last year) that today was @H2O's birthday! Happy birthday to you, enjoy celebrating whatever anniversary of your 29th this may be!!

It's very odd how they seem to all come out in one place but not another. I guess it depends on where the eggs were laid in 2004, among other things. They also seem to come up at different times, even places very close to each other.

OMG...so sorry to hear that! I hope your dad will be OK...

So that small wooded area across the street from me apparently got warm enough over the past couple of days. After no indication of anything other than a lot of holes for awhile, they are now coming out in droves there (see images). Also seeing widespread nymphs emerging around several trees where I am. Pretty certain I heard them singing late this afternoon too.

I heard some about this, too...really weird! A fungus that turns you into a sex crazed zombie!! Sounds like a bad 1950s B-rated sci-fi flick that @ravensrule might recommend!

Well, you do know that the Enterprise-D ran on cicada juice, right?! Billions of them living in the warp drives! (ETA: They worked better than tribbles! )

Same here...there's a lot of nearby construction going on and at times I swear I hear what must be distant singing of the cicadas when some of the "construction noise" is lesser. But hard to tell. Can't tell how far away it is, but imagine they'll get right up nearby soon.

Pretty certain I heard at least one yesterday afternoon. Had the classic "Phaaaa-rooooh" sound. But not much else other than that. Maybe they're tuning up here! Or maybe that one was more like singing "Diiii-nnner!" to all the birds and was gone shortly after!! I've seen a lot of picked-at "meals" left on the ground that's for sure! Seen many emerging right around the apartment property I live at, but surprisingly not so much as an exoskeleton seen in a couple of older and undisturbed wooded areas. If anything, I'd think there'd be a ton in there. Maybe still relatively too cool there, but I'm sure this week it will be warming up.

And it's one of the best parodies I've seen! Even down to the equivalent of hard-core "Trekkies" at those Sci Fi conventions!

@mappy...Saw "Galaxy Quest" the other day, it was on our Netflix list (yeah, a disk!) and happened to come up! I haven't seen it in a few years, so fun to watch it again and be reminded of the great lines and scenes in there (especially those with Alan Rickman). I still like the references to the Galaxy Quest TV show being considered "Historical Documents"!!! LOL!!!

It ain't starting 'till the fat cicada sings!!

Saw a lot more coming out again last night on a couple of trees. But a little odd how some have almost nothing while others have a ton. Grass near those trees was also covered with them crawling out. The wooded area across the street from where I'm at, haven't seen any indication even of shells, though there are a LOT of holes there (approx. index finger size or so). I'm assuming those are cicadas waiting to come up...maybe it's like others said, the more shaded areas are slightly cooler still and so they haven't emerged yet (and it's quite shaded in there). Seen a few "fully" done ones, but no singing yet that I can definitely confirm. At times yesterday I thought I heard a distant "roar" of the chorus but could be something else.

Tiniest hurricane I've ever seen!!

Has DT issued a "FINAL call" with a map yet??

Nice! So it's like an Easter egg hunt, only a quest for red bug-eyes!!

I suppose instead of deck pics for cicadas...we get tree pics!! ETA: That's actually what some trees around where I'm at have started to look like the past couple of nights.