Cicadas

What's the big deal with cicadas?  Just the name of the sweet little bug evokes thoughts of falling asleep on a screen porch in the middle of the rainforest with the cicadas chirping and singing me lullabies.  Sounds lovely, right?  

But then it sounded a little less Tarzan of the Jungle and a little more like creatures emerging from the crypt, sprouting to life once every 13 years... Here's more from Discovery Magazine and Missouri Department of Conservation.  And this clip and article here from a Belmont University professor discussing the emergence and life cycle of the cicadas

While they're mostly harmless,and from what I've read, we don't need to be too worried about them getting into our garden.   Some of the reading mentions that they'll do damage to younger trees.  Does this include our newly planted gardenias?  And while I'm sure the mass emergence of a new food group has the local birds jumping for joy, hopefully their improved diet won't lead to any additional scrubbing of our cars and lawn furniture.  

the molted exoskeleton
and the emerged cidada drying off

newly emerged cicada drying off

I don't think I'd mind the cicadas so much, just the mass invasion of these guys has me a little grossed out.  We witnessed one insect molt while we were out in the yard last weekend, and just 4 days later, every surface of tree, chair, deck, etc was bedazzled with empty molts.

Sunday morning - 1 exoskeleton

Thursday afternoon - droves of exoskeletons

The quantity of bugs out Thursday (even after a huge downpour) gave me the willies!  The good news?  You can fish with them. And if you're really into it, I found a site that'll sell you some cicada merch for the season