| cicadas 2004 |
| They started to come out in very small numbers in our Arlington, VA neighborhood by Monday, May 11 after a warm weekend. By Tuesday morning, there were quite a few (dozens) in front of a house or two on the way to the bus stop. Wednesday morning we took a more roundabout route through our old neighborhood and found several properties that for one reason or another had amazing numbers of cicadas. |
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| The fence to the left is on a property that recently lost a very big old tree-- perhaps from Hurricane Isabel. So the cicada-rich soil, where eggs had dropped from the tree seventeen years ago, was unshaded and warmed nicely in the sun. The emergence there is way ahead of other yards on the block. This picture was taken May 13th. By May 14th, every picket had at least 5 cicadas on it. |
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| Maddie (above: the one with the dress, not the small, red-eyed one) adores cicadas. At first, she felt that her mission was to move cicadas and nymphs from the sidewalk to trees. She'll still perform that service for nymphs, but understands that there are just too many cicadas to save. Her main service to them now is just to avoid stepping on them and adding to what she calls the "cicada pudding" (i.e., smashed cicadas) on the sidewalk. |
| Our dog Daisy played with one for a while, tossing it on the grass and rolling with it, then accidentally bit a little too hard and discovered the cicada-ey goodness inside. Since then, she has tried to gobble down every cicada possible. Since our yard is not yet overrun (as of May 14), we can limit her intake to one or two daily by simply keeping the leash really short. |
| Is there anything sadder than living underground for 17 years, looking forward to a few weeks of good cicada lovin', and then emerging to find that one of your wings doesn't work? Just tragic. Another shame is to be one of the first to emerge. The birds were just feasting for the first few days-- there were few enough cicadas that they were sitting ducks. Tons of empty cicada butts lying around, evidence that birds eat them like lobster tails. |
| Sorry for the lousy photo, but I don't have much memory, so I'm showing the low-res version. But the point is, on the high-res version I was able to count nearly 100 cicadas or cicada shells in this unassuming scene. And believe me, it was tough to get close enough to take this shot without creating more cicada pudding. |
| As of the morning of the 14th, some of the cicadas were finally really flying. There was a low whistling in parts of the neighborhood. Very exciting. More to come. |