Scarlet Pimpernel

Publicly fornicating cicadas! Shock, horror! Someone get these two a room, or a private tree branch, stat!! (or call @ravensrule!)

LOL...funny but upon going outside to get my daughter to school this morning, she said "shut up, cicadas!" She doesn't get why I find them fascinating and thinks it's gross when I pick one up (or "rescue" one from the sidewalk and put it on a nearby tree or bush)!! She was 6 months old when they came out last time in 2004, so obviously wouldn't remember that...and is now 17-1/2 and graduating high school. Kind of an odd symmetry there in a way, and makes me realize just how long a time that is!

Seems it slows down toward the later afternoon, relatively speaking, and then totally stops by evening. They start up early each day...like not long after sunrise or when enough light has come out! It did seem louder today where I'm at, compared to the other day. Cool that you can hear all 3 of the magicicada songs! I've been able to clearly discern two of them (the more abundant "septendecim" and also the "cassini"...but not sure I've heard the "septendecula" offhand).

I haven't seen any of the "flagging" trees yet, I thought that typically appears in a couple of months when the eggs hatch and fall out. But maybe some of the earlier ones are starting to. I saw a lot of that in 2004. Fortunately, it doesn't really harm most trees and in fact (from what I heard) is like a good pruning. But new or smaller trees like fruit trees...could be bad for those (I actually have seen a couple of yards where someone has put up netting around their smaller ones).

Storm rolling in yesterday evening...pretty cool shelf-looking cloud!

Same here, seen a fair number "flying" around. I use quotes around flying because it's more like bumbling along while beating their wings. I guess they can actually get kind of far, relatively speaking. Have seen several dive-bombing birds, too, probably nabbing them in mid-air. I suspect tomorrow and Saturday the sound/activity might temporarily be a fair bit lower with rain and cooler temperatures. But then I imagine it'll go back up again toward the later part of the weekend as it clears out more and warms back up some.

I've definitely heard the hissing sound of the "Cassini" ones under some trees, against the background din. If I listen closely enough, I can also hear some individual or smaller groups as well, above the general hum (can sometimes hear the distinct "Phaaa-rooooh" sound now and then). Last night, there were still a lot coming out of the ground at least around this one maple tree where I'm at. I knelt down and looked at the grass, it was shimmering and moving, and upon closer inspection it was nymphs coming up. Have also continued to see several crawling around on trees in the evenings. Maybe they're being "fashionably late" to the party!

Yeah, after they were relatively quiet yesterday with the rain (though I did hear a little at times), they've returned in force today. I guess it's more rain than temperature that curbs their activity. I also saw a lot of emerging nymphs still coming up through the grass near a couple of trees last night.

Oh yeah..."Plague of Ye Olde Broode X Locusts"! They still thought they were locusts back then, caused by witchcraft. You're lucky you didn't get burned as a heretic!

Doesn't he have an article he co-authored with Ben Franklin documenting one of the first recorded emergences?

Spinal Tap cicadas! One louder!!

Pretty loud here today. I can distinctly hear the differences between two of the species in some places...kinda cool (I think the "hissing" sound is magicicada cassini, and the more common "phaaa-rohhh" is septendecim?). Saw a funny bit of graffiti while out for a walk, going under one of these bridges along a trail. It said "F**K CICADAS!" I guess whomever wrote that isn't a fan!

Haha...free Scooby snacks!! I've seen birds occasionally dive-bombing or plucking things off the ground, too. Maybe the squashed or dead ones on the sidewalk are fast food! Steady din of cicadas here, not so much right in my yard but all around and it's louder (Audubon Nature Center very nearby me, they're all over and humming up a storm). Interesting that I've seen so many coming out on trees around my place but I don't (yet) hear any in those same trees. Maybe they just flew off. I'm sure not all were eaten, there were so many. Like @WxUSAF mentioned, I've also noticed that in some "deeper woods" they aren't out yet, but I have seen indications on the "edges" of there in the past day. I'd have to imagine there are a ton in those relatively undisturbed old-wood regions. And like @H2O, I've noticed many new ones coming out on several nights, even on the same trees.

Reminds me of a joke I heard some time ago: What's the last thing to come to a bug's mind when it hits your windshield?? Its ass!

Cult? Cult?!!!! What are you saying! We worship snow and cicadas and have unusual rituals/superstitions about storm threads so....oh, wait a minute, nevermind!!

"Vintage", I believe is the correct word here!! Like a wine...

It's serious now. Trees have caved!

This must be one of the lost commandments on the 3rd tablet that Moses (errrrr, Mel Brooks!) dropped in "History of the World"!!

This year we get "treated" to both, of course!! I actually don't mind the annual ones so much. At least the ones that have that sort of rapid whirring sound like shaking maracas (like a "ch-ch-ch-ch-chhhh"). But there is one kind that has sort of an annoying buzzing that sounds almost electrical which is not as pleasant.

Definitely hearing them clearly...the "chorus" is closer to me and louder now (is the "cicadar" filling in??? ). Don't have to strain the ears to hear them, LOL! I walked over to the Audubon Nature Center (not far from me), and they are all over the place there as one might expect. Several trees coated with shells and very audible. I know there are 3 "magicicada" species (septendecim, septendecula, and cassini), with the septendecim I guess being the most common and loudest with the "Phaaa-rohhhh" sound. In one tree at the Audubon center, I was able to clearly hear the cassini ones too, with the "hissing" sound. Got some photos, here are a couple:

Same here, can definitely hear them closer in now, a steady din that comes and goes. At least we're not seeing these flying around...

Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!!

LOL!! Could always threaten people with that gelled spaghetti-o and wiener dish. Or just make it your birthday cake!!

Everyone get off @H2O's lawn, before he yells at you to leave!! He might sic the cicadas on you!

Interesting. I wonder if they are very sensitive to precise soil temperatures too. So if it's just warm enough a mile away where your daughter's school is, they are coming out...but your place is maybe just below the threshold still? Something like that. Or if it's been fairly undisturbed there in the past 17 years. Where I am, I saw a lot come out on like 2 or 3 large trees, over the course of a few nights. But this wooded area just across the street, which is pretty undisturbed...nothing, despite noticing a LOT of holes in the ground. Then suddenly last night, they were coming out in that wooded area all over the place. I can only guess that it was a hair cooler there until now (with a couple of very warm days). And those emerging looked to have become more widespread in the area I'm at last night (but that's a subjective take).