Day of the cicada

[Gadger 0]

The 17 year cycle has passed an their coming back again  

Taken from USA Today:

Quote[/b] ]People in the eastern third of the USA who remember the spring of 1987 are dreading the spring of 2004. The cicadas of Brood X are coming back.

Take cover.

Emerging from the ground every 17 years, these red-eyed root suckers will be seen this year when the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees, probably in May or June. (Related graphic: Cicadas emerge)

There are 12 broods of 17-year cicadas, each identified by Roman numerals. There also are 13-year cicadas, and each brood has its own timetable and geographic range, mostly east of the Mississippi. They're called periodic cicadas, to distinguish them from the kind that show up every summer.

What makes Brood X, or 10, so memorable is that it's huge, by far the largest. The creatures, which are about 1Ë inches long (but seem larger in memory), will fill tree branches from New York to north Georgia and as far west as Illinois, and commence a mating call that is the stuff of nightmares.

"The noise and sheer abundance is alarming," says Keith Clay, professor of biology at Indiana University. The mating call is a deafening chorus, a loud, electric whine that has an otherworldly sound, like the imagined buzz of a Martian spacecraft.

Cicada density can reach 1.5 million an acre, Clay says, though some areas will have more than others. But if that density occurred throughout Indiana, he says, it would work out to 38 trillion in that state alone.

And horrifyingly, they all seem to come out at once. "One day there's nothing, and the next there's a million of them in your backyard," Clay says

full article here

If you live on the east coast, its time to stock up on the ear muffs  

[theavonlady 2]

I remember them!

[cozza 24]

Have fun east coast people

[denoir 0]

What the hell is that? And is it not time to start using that big nuclear stockpile of yours?

[SFG 1]

Oh joy. *Puts up mosquito net*

[smogmorph 0]

*cough* eradicate them *cough*.. You have enough WMDs don't you?

[Scorpio 0]

What the hell is that?   And is it not time to start using that big nuclear stockpile of yours?  

LOL. Classic...

[SpongeBob 0]

I hope someone makes them into a OFP addon. So those not living on the east coast can see whay they're like.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Cicadas are awesome- brings back memories. In our area we have 2 or 3 smaller broods that went through their mating cycle when I was a kid. They're harmless but loud, they're really cool to mess around with, and dogs love to eat them (we used to spend all afternoon running around looking for the little buggers just to feed them to our two labs). Good times

[m21man 0]

5.5 inches long, you say? That's big enough to hit with a .223 fired from my bedroom window   .

Quote[/b] ]Cicada density can reach 1.5 million an acre

Quote[/b] ]But if that density occurred throughout Indiana, he says, it would work out to 38 trillion in that state alone.

If that density occurs here, then I'll be surrounded by 46.5 million .

[walker 0]

Hi all

@ Tex Must be ichy cleaning up the Cicada sick when dogs eat too many.

Walker upchucking

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]The exoskeletons are not easily digested, he says. "They can cause constipation, but basically, they're plump little morsels and free for the taking, so everything will be eating them."

Clay is considering trying a couple this year. He plans to stir-fry them in a wok, maybe with a little sesame oil.

Yummy! I can just see myself cooking cicadas on the grill .

[red oct 2]

heh, im already finding exoskeletons lying around. i see and hear them almost every summer in Ohio.

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/ohc....a.shtml

they make a satisfying crunch when you step on them.

[Commander-598 0]

Quote[/b] ]as far west as Illinois

Well, thats just wonderful news...

[Winters 1]

I have the perfect defence against them.

An Air Conditioner and Closed Windows

[Gadger 0]

These things are kinda cool, they only live above ground for 4 weeks every 13 or 17 years (different broods have different mating patterns) go at it like rabbits then die en masse.

Their slightly bigger and a hell of a lot noisier than your typical cicada.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

What the hell is that?   And is it not time to start using that big nuclear stockpile of yours?  

Concur 100%

[The Frenchman 0]

Bleh, these things drive me crazy! There is a tree in my sisters yard right next to us and all of the cicadas shed on that one tree!

[Tex -USMC- 0]

I forgot to mention that they're crunchy. And the rest of you are bunch of pansies- these guys are completely harmless and pretty damn fascinating. They can be a little loud, but what the hell- they only come around now and then. I for one welcome our new cicada overlords:

[hellfish6 7]

Well... Texas is known for caving in. Look at how Mexico slapped them around.

[SpongeBob 0]

Haha tex, you gonna take that shit on your birthday?

[Tex -USMC- 0]

Hell no. Unfortunately I spent an hour and a half one day trying to educate Tunabrain on Texas history, and he still doesn't get it.

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]Unfortunately I spent an hour and a half one day trying to educate Tunabrain on Texas history, and he still doesn't get it.

You're so tactful, it makes me want to salute you .

[Harnu 0]

Tex, it's your birthday, what the hell are you doing here? Go and enlist dammit!

[Tex -USMC- 0]

I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Sgt. Bryant: if I'm going to Iraq, I'm going as a truck driver making 100k a year, not a line-doggie making 15- my chances of getting my head cut off are about the same either way, so I figure it would be better to go where the opportunities are. But it's a moot point, since I'm going to Southwesten U in the fall.