The cicadas are comming!!!

[stinkyattic]

This is worth a trip just to see. If I could get time off work, I would fly out there just to bug-watch... SO freaking cool. WAY better than dumb Halley's comet....

[Skink]

This is worth a trip just to see. If I could get time off work, I would fly out there just to bug-watch... SO freaking cool. WAY better than dumb Halley's comet....

You see all molted shells piled at the base of trees and a deafening sound...

[stinkyattic]

Mmmm cicada shell mulch.... someone should bag that shit and sell it at the garden center... yuck!

[napolitana869]

oh man when we had those things on the east coast my dog went crazy! He knows he's not allowed to eat things he finds on walks so he would pick one up while I wasnt looking and he would give me this really innocent look while the damn thing was buzzing in his mouth.

[aardvark]

Had them in the mid-atlantic 3 years ago. Here's a few fun things to do with them:

1) Batting practice with a wiffle ball bat. Flying of course. Lightning bugs may be substituted at dusk.

2) Bait. Fish go nuts over cicadas. Hook 'em at the back of the head and drop them on the surface with their wings still flapping. We had bass, crappie, bluegill, and even carp jumping out of the water.

3) My personal fav. Buy a cheap CO2 operated pellet pistol. Don't bother with the pellets, just use the air pressure to damn near vaporize any cicada on a tree. I call myself the 17 year assassin.

And as always, the most important thing is to just have fun.

[Skink]

The fishing bait sonds like a winner to me...

[HeallyRi]

fishing bait does sound like a well idea..
i wonder if redfish will bite?

theres cicadas all summer long in florida, every year.. is this just for the upper states or something?

wiki-quote-
"Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer life cycles, e.g. the Magicicada goes through a 13- or even 17-year life cycle. These long life cycles are an adaptation to predators such as the cicada killer wasp and praying mantis, as a predator could not regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers, so while a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a 3- or 5-year life cycle, the 13- and 17-year cycles allow them to stop the predators falling into step."

some weird evolution.. all to avoid predators?.. interesting

[napolitana869]

yeah the 17 year ones are what they're talking about. I think most places have the regular every year kind. But when these come out there are tons of them. Its like the ground is crawling in some places

[yoda]

yeah the 17 year ones are what they're talking about. I think most places have the regular every year kind. But when these come out there are tons of them. Its like the ground is crawling in some places

didnt we have ours in 04? i remember the big rave about them coming that year, it was my senior year. there were a lot of them, but it wasn't like an all-out infest of those pesky little fuckers.

[napolitana869]

my friends spray painted them. I had a bunch right by my house but I lived next to the woods. My friends didnt have as many