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Cicadas 2021 - Brood X


FXW176
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1 hour ago, ece said:

Gunpowder area today is the loudest in several days. I can't remember the technical names, but it's all of the buzzy ones, no more space ship drone and no more dual tone pharoah ones. 

So, this is how I pretty much describe them to my wife all the time.  :)  I heard a very few of the kind you first described over the past two days, a lone "pharrrrrrrr-oh" but all others are now gone. Don't even see 'em flying anymore -- and only the occasional straggler hanging out solo on the pavement. These guys bringing up the rear must be like, "I can't attract ANYBODY right now..."  :D 

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On 6/19/2021 at 5:17 PM, vastateofmind said:

So, this is how I pretty much describe them to my wife all the time.  :)  I heard a very few of the kind you first described over the past two days, a lone "pharrrrrrrr-oh" but all others are now gone. Don't even see 'em flying anymore -- and only the occasional straggler hanging out solo on the pavement. These guys bringing up the rear must be like, "I can't attract ANYBODY right now..."  :D 

These are the cicadas that are saying at closing time:  "Damn, I'm seriously buzzed and there are no more chicks around!!"  So they turn to their friend and say, "I love you, man!!  Try again in 17 years!!" :lol:

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28 minutes ago, Always in Zugzwang said:

These are the cicadas that are saying at closing time:  "Damn, I'm seriously buzzed and there are no more chicks around!!"  So they turn to their friend and say, "I love you, man!!  Try again in 17 years!!" :lol:

Yep. On the 4.5 mile walk with doggo this evening we saw only two live, though obviously VERY lonely, cicadas in our travels. Everything else...the cicada corpses (which were many just a few days ago), the cicada "parts" (what was left over from bird and other animal attacks), and the exoskeletons have all been washed or blown away in just a week's time. It's difficult at best to find any evidence of them around here now. I swear this is the last time I'll say it....but I miss the alien drone...  :)  #GoodbyeBroodX 

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15 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

Hasn't been an audible song here in multiple days. Dead ones around, though - and a few zombie-like ones trying unsuccessfully to fly near the ground. 

Yeah, Monday was the last day we heard anything here.

Also, in case people don't know (I didn't) the browning of leaves on trees are where the females laid their eggs. Shouldn't hurt the trees, unless they were unhealthy to begin with. 

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24 minutes ago, mappy said:

Yeah, Monday was the last day we heard anything here.

Also, in case people don't know (I didn't) the browning of leaves on trees are where the females laid their eggs. Shouldn't hurt the trees, unless they were unhealthy to begin with. 

Definitely cool to see that some trees have been left almost untouched while others have the top 1/6th or so completely browned at the tips. 

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4 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

Definitely cool to see that some trees have been left almost untouched while others have the top 1/6th or so completely browned at the tips. 

Yeah, we noticed that our oak tree in the backyard suddenly had all these brown leaves. Then I noticed a lot of trees in my area had it. Ava posted something about it Wednesday, and it all clicked. Some trees hit much much worse than others, but kind of cool to see where they laid their eggs. 

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1 hour ago, mappy said:

Yeah, we noticed that our oak tree in the backyard suddenly had all these brown leaves. Then I noticed a lot of trees in my area had it. Ava posted something about it Wednesday, and it all clicked. Some trees hit much much worse than others, but kind of cool to see where they laid their eggs. 

Same here, I've seen many trees with the tips of branches turning brown.  If you look closely, you can actually see the notches along the branch where eggs were laid.  Not sure which they "favored" for laying eggs, but I've seen the tree flagging on oaks, dogwoods, sweetgum, and maples in particular.  Probably some others, too.  And even some shrubs and bushes.  Supposedly it's good for the trees, like a "natural pruning"...as long as it's not too young or small of a tree (which could cause serious damage, I've seen where people actually fastened a net around their small trees!).  That, and apparently all the holes left in the ground from where they came out aerates the soil.  I guess this current generation is now "back to nature"!!

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41 minutes ago, Herb@MAWS said:

The birds didn't come to the feeders much during Brood X.  The birds are back big-time now and I am barely seeing any new cicadas on my walks in the woods.  Not much to sweep up anymore on driveway (under a tree) or front porch, where I was seeing 20-40 new ones each morning after sweeping the evening before.

I haven’t been hearing much more about the mysterious bird “virus” that was killing large numbers. Hopefully it was just from the cicada gorge.

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I’m sad to see them go. They made fantastic bait. A cicada in the water on a hook would sometimes cause a feeding frenzy. I’ve never seen that with any live bait such as crickets or earthworms.

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2 hours ago, wxtrix said:

the disease predated the cicadas and has spread:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.birdwatchingdaily.com/news/birdwatching/bird-disease-east-excessive-heat-threatens-west/amp/

people in our subforum should take down all feeders.

 

Not trying to be "that guy", but your link doesn't mention this being documented before the cicadas emerged. Their original story from June 11th says "in the past 10 days" reports started rolling in. End of May/beginning of June was the cicada peak around DC.

They also mention this is now being seen in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky... three other states that also have Brood X.

Seems suspicious to me.

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Getting harder to find periodicals now.  I did find one buzzing around me walking outside.  I put it on the wall and could tell it was slowing down.  No shortage of dead ones around the oak and maples though.

Another thing that caught my attention was a cicada killer wasp!  They are scouting the walkway.  It's that time of the year.

And just now I heard the first annual.  That is EARLY here.  We usually don't start hearing them until the second week of July.  Also not seeing as many fireflies as I'd like.

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These things have been a nightmare. On no less than 4 different occasions I have had one hitchhike into the bedroom on my clothing. I'll be all under the sheets and all of a sudden one of these starts screeching. The last time I began punching it trying to kill it. I don't even know if this is possible but I almost beat myself to death trying to kill it. 

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2 hours ago, mappy said:

Whoa stranger!

Lol always been here. Just never had much to add. I guess I finally took the advice a few of you had been offering for several years that I should read more and post less. I mostly come here to follow Josh's exploits. But on the rare occasion might chime in with something no one really cares about or wants to hear. For old time sake. ;) Anywho, hope all are well. Even Trixie. 

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