Cicada Summer

Amazing creatures.

They have an interesting lilfecycle staying undergaround for periods of time which are prime numbers 5 years and in some cases 15 or 17 years! Smart way to avoid predators.

I remember witnessing the emergence of about 50 cicada nymphs in the back yard in Palmerston.

They came out on a full moon – from between sleepers in a retaining wall.

Anchored themselves to the face of the wood, shed their skins, walked a few steps and then pumped up their wings before flying away.

Took about 3 hours.

One has to wonder if a creature which spends years digging under the ground only to emerge to spend a few glorious weeks flying, mating and making noise before expiring has got life better figured out than we do.

Worked for Mully?

Used to get these black, noisy bastards in Newcastle, but I’ve never seen so many of them all at once. Must be deafening.

How much joy we had as kids with them. Green Grocers, Yellow Mondays and whatever other names I cant remember!

Brown Baker?

I also grew up in Sydney, and cicadas provided endless hours of fun. We used to catch them and write our initials on their head with a felt pen and let them go. We stopped doing it when every cicada we caught in Gladesville was “tagged”.

Looking back..this probably wasn’t the best thing to do…

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I can be most useful in rounding up other humans for food or menial tasks.

How much joy we had as kids with them. Green Grocers, Yellow Mondays and whatever other names I cant remember!

All black princes! Where I come from, they’re the rare ones.

Ripley! They mostly come out at night, mostly.
They’re kind of cute. I love the feeling of them as they crawl over yours hands. I doesn’t hurt, but it’s kind of weird how they manage to hang on to the underside of your hand.

And my dog has turned insectivorous…
Tree prawns??

Great photos!