Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Seventeen year brood...

These little critters stay underground for many years and then all emerge together.


They molt and leave their shell behind. They take some time to unfurl their wings and let them dry so that they can fly away in search of mate for the next seventeen year brood.


Be sure to click these next two for desktop sized images.


I think this is my favorite of the bunch.

8 comments:

Carletta said...

OMG! This are awesome. I saw one shell early on in the spring and that was it.
I've never seen one come out of the shell - cool.

Fenway said...

Are you having the seventeen year cicada hatch cycle?

Ours came out 2 or 3 years ago....I'm wondering if different climates have their own Cicada Schedule.

b13 said...

I believe so... I read up on it earlier this season.

Fenway said...

Do they sound like Martians landing in a flying saucer?

b13 said...

Somewhat... I think its more like a water sprinkler: http://tinyurl.com/6btnxd

i beati said...

yipes many faces -- mine is on 13th

Rachel said...

We had our cicadas earlier this year and I posted about them then. There were oodles of them on the back of our house and on the trees. Noisy things, but they didn't last that long. Kind of nice having visitors like that that only come every 17 years! Nature is awesome!

Gretchen said...

They are really good shots, but YUCKKK!!!!!!!!!