17 year cicadas

[SammyKhalifa]

Or "locusts" as we call them. They're gross, but they're also very slow and stupid and give me time to actually focus.


untitled-33.jpg by sammykhalifa, on Flickr

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day Sammy

Very definitely a cicada and nothin' like a locust > which to us Aussies is similar to an over-sized grasshopper [maybe 2-1/2" to 3" long]

Dunno how you come to the age of this fella above - maybe it's the smile - however it's a great closeup of the face ... well done

Phil

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by Ozzie_Traveller

G'day Sammy

Very definitely a cicada and nothin' like a locust > which to us Aussies is similar to an over-sized grasshopper [maybe 2-1/2" to 3" long]

Dunno how you come to the age of this fella above - maybe it's the smile - however it's a great closeup of the face ... well done

Phil

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the compliment.

Yes, I know it's definitely a cicada--"locust" is just a colloquial thing based on how this variety arrives. Back at the beginning of the month, he along with millions of his relatives all came up from the ground and shed their skins. All at the same time. They'll be here for another few weeks, by the millions (billions?) making the trees buzz constantly. They'll mate, lay some eggs, and then die falling all over the ground in thick carpets in some places. Their survival mechanism is that there are so many at once that predators couldn't possibly eat them all (they certainly don't know how to avoid dangers such as birds or car windshields).

Their eggs will hatch, and larvae burrow underground laying dormant; and we won't see any again in my local region until 2036.