Playing With Cicadas

I sure can hear masses of cicadas off in the distance.  It is a regular roar.

Last Saturday I was doing yardwork around two trees in the front yard and came across one live cicada under the sunburst honey locust and two by the crabapple tree in the at the northwest corner of the house.

I'm afraid I wasn't the nicest host to my visitors.

They do not move fast and are easy to catch, especially since they don't try to fly away.  The one by the sunburst honeylocust did a lot of the clicking sound you hear and I would catch it by the wings and hold it up next to my ear and listen.

Sure glad they don't bite, but their legs are quite sticky.

I came across two of them by the crabapple tree.  One clicked and the other wouldn't.

Sure Gonna Miss the Little Critters When They're Gone.  Now, Who Am I Gonna Play With?

--RoadCada

Speaking of Those ROTTEN Japanese Beetles

I figure I have another couple weeks to deal with the main part of the Japanese beetle onslaught. They have really done in the top of one of my mountain ash trees, a favorite snack for the varmints. Right now, the seed balls are a brilliant orange and very pretty on the bottom of the mountain ash, but not so much at the top because of the eaten leaves.

They are also going after a wildflower, my burning bushes, and purple plum bushes. They also like my paper and river birches.

The best time to catch and kill the beetles is early in the morning and about two hours before nightfall. They are then settled in to eat or procreate for the night, and very sluggish. During the day time, they are very fast to get away.

I kill them either by smashing them with my fingers- very messy, or knocking them off into a pail with soap and warm water. This kills them very effectively. Just don't let too many accumulate as it gets very smelly after a couple days.

I must kill 300-500 or more every day. They either have successive hatchings or a lot of them fly over from the neighbors' homes. I mean, I'll completely kill off a group one day, and, the next day, they'll be back.

Last night, I tried a new way to kill them. Since water and soap does a good job, I loaded up my sprayer with a mix and sprayed them. I'll have to see if it worked later today. I probably will have to catch some and run a test in a controlled environment, though.

I Really HATE Those Japanese Beetles. --RoadDog

A Last Vestige of the Famed 2007 Cicada Invasion

The cicadas have been gone for several weeks now. For the most part, many people did not even see any. It was sort of hit and miss.

One major place they were was in Bull Valley, Il. On Wednesday, we drove down Bull Valley Road between Woodstock and McHenry, one of the great scenic drives in Illinois to my way of thinking. I noticed that the majority of the trees has dead leaves at the ends of the limbs, the result of hungry and pressed-for-time cicadas.

We were told that this would happen, but it was not a danger to mature trees, which would easily recover. It was suggested that people with newly-planted trees wrap the leaves in fabric, but usually this was not necessary unless there was a heavy infestation.

Say Goodbye Cicadies. --RoadDog

Elmer the Cicada Visits the Yard

Yesterday, while working in the yard and avoiding the biggest ant nest I've ever seen, I noticed a fluttering in an area I had just cleared of some Shasta daisies, which are trying to take over the yard.

Upon further inspection, it was one of those Marty Feldman-bulging-red-eyed cicadas.

His wings were messed up. I just had to bring our 'lil visitor inside to show Liz, who was NOT amused. I named him Elmer. I put him back out, but am not sure he'll make it. I was kind of hoping for some new cicadas in 17 years.

They're Coming, They're Coming!!! --RoadCada

Up Close and Personal with the Cicadas

Yesterday, I drove over to Woodstock to visit with my mother-in-law, Frances, and along the way, FINALLY encountered those hard-to-find cicadas in vast numbers.

I turned off Illinois Highway 120 at the second Wonder Lake traffic light and took a side road through a heavily treed area through the Village of Bull Valley. It used to be that we avoided it as I would classify it as a non-road, where the potholes had potholes. It was that bad. It has recently been repaved and a smooth ride except for a short 200 feet stretch where it is the same as it was. The local township road commission has a sign up saying that you're leaving their road when you hit the bad part. Must have been some sort of an intergovermental situation.

Anyway, once past the car-jarring stretch, I encountered cicada paradise. They were everywhere, flying about, on the road itself, and the sound was practically deafening. They are in their last few weeks of life, and it is time to mate. They are frantic.

They fly rather slowly with wings moving rapidly to keep those chunky bodies moving. I had plenty cicada momentos on the windshield and car grill as they didn't get out of the way in time. I stopped at one place and found a dead one and took it with me. This is one ugly bug, let me tell you. Even though they aren't exactly fast, they are still hard to catch by hand. I came up empty in my efforts.

For some reason, they liked to sit on the pavement and at times, as I approached, as many as a hundred would rise in unison, many to do kamikazes onto the car.

On the way back from Woodstock, I drove the same road. I had the windows open when suddenly something came in through the rider's side, hit the seatback, and ended up down the back of my shirt. Scared me a bit. I reached back, and pulled out a cicada. I thought it was dead, but after a minute, I saw one of its feet moving. For some reason, it had been stunned. George, as I named him, had messed up his (her?) wings, but seemed to enjoy crawling on my arm and falling off. Unfortunately, poor George/Georgene later died because of his/her injuries.

Most people out in our area northwest of Chicago still haven't seen a cicada. I took George and the other one into the Legion and showed them around to great interest. When I told Chopper how I had come by George, he joked that George must have been trying to mate with me. I replied that that would be ONE VERY UGLY BUG.

I Have Seen the Cicadas. --RoadDog

THIS DAY IN HISTORY- 1856- The First Republican National Convention held in Philadelphia nominated frontier hero, John C. Fremont as their presidential candidate. The GOP had only started in Ripon, Wi., two years earlier. I figure some of my mostly-Republican family would find this of interest. We all know who they nominate in 1860.

More Mama Robins, Gigantoraptors, Mallards, and Cicadas

While working out in the part of the yard I call Frances' Back 40, after her suggestion, I had a run-in with another Mama Robin. I'm really getting tired of these Mamas. If they want to have a nest in my yard, that's fine with me. However, I could really do without the commotion and fuss when I get too close to all those wide-open young mouths, er, beaks.

This one flies up into the maple tree, squawks loudly, and ruffles her feathers. Sometimes, she does the injured ground walk. When I have the hose, I try to cool her off.

I see where scientists have discovered a huge bird like dinosaur in China's Gobi Desert. I'm sure the Mama Robins would like to bring back their long-gone ancestor to do me off. The ingrates.

Last Wednesday, I had a pair of mallard ducks floating around in my little pond (about 5 by 3 feet). When they saw me, they indignantly got out, shook their tailfeathers, and waddled off.

Also, this past week, while working in the yard, I heard something off in the distance which sounded like someone screaming, or, sometimes, crying. I have decided that it must be the cicada sound I've heard so much about.

A five-year-old boy in a Chicago suburb found a cicada with white eyes (they are really bright red), a one in a million chance. He says he is going to keep it until it dies, then let it go. I'm sure the cicada will be happy to learn that.

Trying to Live with Those Mama Robins. --RoadDog

My Key West Encounter with a Palmetto Bug

While thinking about the cicada, I remembered my encounter with another big ol' bug down in Key West. We were just off Duvall Street near Mallory Square, and I was walking ahead of the group and under some trees.

Suddenly, I became aware of a presence on my back, even more so when it started scampering around. Now this was a good-sized insect, my friends said about four inches long. And I can tell you, its feet dug in like velcro as it moved from one area to another.

Not knowing what was on my back, and not being able to see it, I was more than a little concerned. All I could hear from behind me was uproarious laughter and loud guffaws. They later said that I had probably invented at least three new dances in my efforts to get it off.

It finally dropped off, whether by my efforts or its own, I'll never know. To say the least, my encounter was a large part of the conversation the rest of the night. I was NOT much amused, but figure I would have been laughing as well.  Later, I was told it was a palmetto bug.

I should mention that yesterday, I heard a new sound out by the arboretum in my yard. It definitely wasn't a bird (and definitely not a robin as I know that sound too well after good old mama robin and her nest). Perhaps it is a cicada. Who knows, seventeen years from now I might just have some of the critters.

Help, a Palmetto Bug's Fallen on Me, and I can't Get Him Off!!! --RoadDog


THIS DAY IN HISTORY- 1884- the world's first roller coaster opened at New York's Coney Island. They were originally called a switchback railway and was created by LaMarcus Thompson.

--RoadDog

Thout I Thaw a Cicada

I did, I did see a cicada last Friday at the Triangle Restaurant in Grayslake. I was having breakfast with Kip and looked out the window. I saw a sparrow chasing a good-sized bug around.

It got closer to the window and I could see that it was a cicada. The sparrow kept grabbing it and vigorously shaking it back and forth. Either it would let it go or it would escape and the whole process would be repeated. Finally, the sparrow managed to get both wings off and the cicada ceased moving. Evidently, sparrows do not like the wings. The sparrow then grabbed it and flew away for a hard-won meal.

I understand the birds are gorging themselves in the older suburbs of Chicago. However, I have yet to see one or hear one out in Spring Grove. I don't expect to see any around here because the subdivision was only started in 1992, and this brood of 17 year cicadas were born in 1990. If you disturb the soil, it kills them. Plus, our house was a farmer's field back in 1990.

Wondering Where the Cicadas Are. --RoadDog