Cicada spotting
There it was, right in front of me on the sidewalk, stopped just short of a nearby lawn.
It was my first sighting of a cicada, the red-eyed little critters that are expected to invade the Midwest in the next few weeks in their regular 17-year cycle of emerging from the ground, mating and dying.
This morning I nearly stepped on one at the intersection of Longwood and Prospect near the 111th Street Metra Station in Morgan Park. Admittedly, it generated a bit of anticipation, since - I hear - they're expected to generate as much noise as a lawnmower and they're supposed to settle down in the billions. Yes: billions.
While this morning's cicada encounter was uneventful, it was the first of what I am convinced will be many over the next two months.
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So as the latest 17-year cycle begins, let us know about your own encouters with the cicadas ... just and be careful outside; you don't want them to get caught in your teeth.
Are you serious about this?...
Back to page topAre you serious about this? Billions?
I guess you are.
According to this site, http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/cicadas.htm, the 17 year cycle is true, but different geographical regions are on different cycles.
In 2004, it happened on the east coast. This quote from a witness tells the tale: "Our 60 year old house and the surrounding yard are now covered with them. It was quite amusing watching my wife (who has never experienced the cicada before) sprint to her car with an umbrella over her head." (from here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0329_040329_cicadas.html)
You can eat them. Check out...
Back to page topYou can eat them. Check out the Chicago foodie site lthforum.com where they're discussing cicada preparation.
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=12344&highlight=cicada
Someone mentioned battered. Like shrimp. Maybe.
I heard that one cicada...
Back to page topI heard that one cicada makes the sound equivilance that a blender would make. Exiting my friend's house in Beverly this morning, I do not doubt that. The sound was so loud and annoying that I could not wait to get in to my car.
But it seems that Morgan Park and Beverly have been hit by the cicadas with much more intensity than the nearby suburbs. By my home in Oak Lawn, you would not even be able to tell that the cicadas are even here. But in Beverly, they are a constant annoyance. One theory I heard is that the cicadas are attracted to older trees, which are present in Beverly and Morgan Park.
Seagulls attracted to...
Back to page topSeagulls attracted to cicadas:
I read an article today in The Daily Southtown that connected the recent influx of segulls in the Beverly and Morgan Park area to the cicadas. They have been munching on the cicadas all over the place. Apparantly, the gulls have also been spotted in Riverside, Palos Heights, Hillside. All the three areas are cicada hotbeds.
In Beverly, the seagulls have been spotted all around, but especially near Crescent Park. Meanwhile in Oak Lawn, only two cicadas have been spotted in over a week.
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