Uh-oh, cicadas!

[Flat Six]

"In late April, two large broods of periodical cicadas are expected to emerge from the ground for a noisy mating frenzy."

"Billions, even trillions, of cicadas are going to emerge at the same time across 17 states."



https://www.the-sun.com/tech/10925607/trillions-bugs-swarm-mating-frenzy-weeks-founding-fathers/

[GG Allin]

We get a lot around here.

Oddly, some of them came up in 2020 and they were about half the size that they should have been. They look different than the yearly ones, red eyes etc...

Hard to believe 2007 was 17 years ago, harder to believe 1990 was.....

I remember lots of skunks in the years after 2007. I guess they thrive off cicadas.

[stevej37]

Very few cicadas around here.

I had noticed a few years back that my lawn had many half-dollar size shallow holes. One night I used the flashlight at around 3 am.
There were three skunks busily pawing at the grass for grubs. Was told that lawn grubs are a favorite for them.

[masraum]

We get cicadas around here, but not tons. We have opossum, skunks, and other critters that eat them. We are also not in the areas that gets any of the big broods. Many years ago, I missed one of the big brood years. We lived in NoVA and I went to college in FL, and that was when one of the big broods hit.

We do have an interesting variety of cicadas here. I've only ever seen what seemed like one type/size, but here we have giant cicadas (never seen one, but I hear them every year) regular cicadas, and then some that are very small.

[HobieMarty]

I started working at the Kia plant in West Point, Georgia in April of 2011and I remember shortly after there were cicadas everywhere. The land that the plant was built on used to be farmland, so I figured the cicadas were there before the plant was. I had seen cicadas before, and I remember collecting their molting shells when I was a kid, but I had never seen cicadas like these before. They were dark in color and had red eyes. Those things would get into everything around the plant, and we would even find them in the locker room in the paint shop. Creepy buggers!!!

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[Sooner or later]

We would catch the annual ones, tie a thread around them, and fly em like a remote control plane!

[Bob Kontak]

I was in Chicago when Brood XIII was out 17 years ago. One and only time of my life I was in the middle of this craziness. (For five days - daughter was with me. I was based in Chicago but lived in Akron. They paid my expenses the entire last year I was in Chicago so April came with to go out to eat every night and I only had to pay for her plate.)

They are lying all over the place dead.

They are extremely loud. Windows rolled up and AC on while on the expressway, their noise cuts through all of that. With all of them barking the rhythm part of the noise goes away and it's like a cicada chain saw.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

I was in Chicago when Brood XIII was out 17 years ago. One and only time of my life I was in the middle of this craziness. (For five days - daughter was with me. I was based in Chicago but lived in Akron. They paid my expenses the entire last year I was in Chicago so April came with to go out to eat every night and I only had to pay for her plate.)

They are lying all over the place dead.

They are extremely loud. Windows rolled up and AC on while on the expressway, their noise cuts through all of that. With all of them barking the rhythm part of the noise goes away and it's like a cicada chain saw.

That's the worst part, when they die. It's like fall leaves in the streets.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

That's the worst part, when they die. It's like fall leaves in the streets.

Our male dachshund loves them. The best treat possible. Especially if they are not totally dead, and still buzzing. I find dead ones in the driveway and toss them to him. He gobbles them like candy. The real problem in in the spring, his incredible nose can find them still in the ground before they emerge. He digs them up and leaves little meteor craters in the lawn, and has dirty feet that need to be washed.

He will start to patrol the back yard as soon as they start getting active and look in at places where they are drying before taking flight. Veal cicadas must be extra yummy.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Our male dachshund loves them. The best treat possible. Especially if they are not totally dead, and still buzzing. I find dead ones in the driveway and toss them to him. He gobbles them like candy. The real problem in in the spring, his incredible nose can find them still in the ground before they emerge. He digs them up and leaves little meteor craters in the lawn, and has dirty feet that need to be washed.



He will start to patrol the back yard as soon as they start getting active and look in at places where they are drying before taking flight. Veal cicadas must be extra yummy.

Haha, I have seen our Yorkie track chipmunks that are underground in their tunnels!!! He would be going along with his nose to the ground and I would see him change direction and all and wondered what he was doing then I realized he was following the chipmunk tunnels.

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[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

We would catch the annual ones, tie a thread around them, and fly em like a remote control plane!

I've heard of people doing this with June Bugs before. I don't do big bugs!!!

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[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Haha, I have seen our Yorkie track chipmunks that are underground in their tunnels!!! He would be going along with his nose to the ground and I would see him change direction and all and wondered what he was doing then I realized he was following the chipmunk tunnels.

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We had a mole in the back yard once. When we got back home he had a good bit of the tunnel excavated, and he was totally covered in mud. I swear we could hear his little doggy thoughts saying "I just could not help myself!" Dachshunds were bred to go into tunnels of badgers and other tunneling critters. I don't think he got the mole, as the neighbor behind set mole traps and got two of them. No more moles after that.

[unclebilly]

What happens when dachshunds go into badger holes?

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

What happens when dachshunds go into badger holes?

That is what they were originally bred for. Larger dachshunds than most people have today. A pack of them would drag a badger out and and the hunter would dispatch the badger. Our male dachshund has a strong hunting instinct. He has caught several mice that we know of, and who knows home many more. He killed a squirrel and a bunny rabbit, numerous skinks, and many little tiny snakes that are not bigger than earthworms.

He has twice tangled with a skunk, and we were the losers there. He chased a possum to the top of the fence. He alerted us to a large "right angle snake" but stayed away from it. We locked him in the house and the snake moved on.


I wish he would leave these alone, but they seem to have a strong reproductive ability.







He is the black and tan. Reese is the long hair dachshund and is not a hunter. She did kill a mouse that ran right at her when Reuben was chasing it.

[Bill Douglas]

We had a particularly poor summer for cicadas. My cat had to really hunt them to have any level of success.

[ben parrish]

Awesome..can’t wait to hear them in my NE corner of Ga! Bring da noise.

[GG Allin]

Cicada holes have appeared all over my yard. I guess they form their escape hatches in advance.

[look 171]

scary stuff

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/world...scn/index.html

[pmax]

[GG Allin]

They're coming out of the ground now in Des Plaines IL. I suspect by Sunday they'll be everywhere.