Cicada Alert!!!

[Tom]

Another road hazard alert for Spring and Summer.  Never had the pleasure of encountering cicadas but looks like fun.      I imagine big time cleaning of windscreens and bikes at gas stops.  The article includes a map for the range of the cicada season.  If you're headed to the MGNOC National Rally in June.  Be prepared.   


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cicadas-are-coming-rare-dual-emergence-could-bring-one-trillion-of-the-bugs-this-year-180983635/

[pehayes]

Mormon Crickets in northeastern Nevada.

These don't fly much, but do hop up several feet when startled.  See if you can count how many.  Each one the size of  your thumb.  And this went on consistently for 75 miles!  Fortunately we were in the RV towing a moto to our son in Wyoming.  Unfortunately the entire rig was coated with debris and it cooked and baked onto the exhaust.  This was 15 years ago and I still find body parts in remote corners of the vehicle.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[Tom]

Definitely looks like it'd hurt.   

[Moparnut72]

It was even worse just north of Reno. It was dangerous more from the slick roads.  I spent a couple of days putting down bait along the east side of 395 to keep them from getting into the ag fields in Calif.
kk

[twowheeladdict]

   Every 221 years.  Interesting. 

When is the worst time of day to encounter them?

[AJ Huff]

I'm excited. One of my favorite bugs. 👍

-AJ

[n3303j]

upload pics


Meanwhile "Love Bug" season in Florida happens twice every year.

Rode thru one of those black clouds and had to stop to clean the visor at the nearest puddle. Visibility went to zero.

[Tom]

You could harvest them.       https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-cook-cicadas

[john fish]

You can make cicada cookies.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/popular-greene-co-bakerys-cicada-treats-flying-off-the-shelves/


LOCAL NEWS
Popular Greene Co. Bakery's Cicada Treats Flying Off The Shelves
pittsburgh
May 27, 2016 / 7:09 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh


MOUNT MORRIS (KDKA) -- A Greene County bakery is whipping up some special treats, and they are just flying off the shelves.

Cicadas emerge from the soil every 17 years to mate. This is the year they are making an appearance, and some of them ended up at Rising Creek Bakery in Mount Morris.

The sign out front reads: "Float on in! Have a treat. Something savory? Something sweet?"

Rising Creek Bakery & Café is a popular eatery. Open for seven years, the owner prides herself in offering treats customers can't find anywhere else.

"They are here, the cicadas are here," says owner Jenny Bardwell.

That's right, the bakery is serving up cicadas.

"I've got a bag of cicadas. I froze them, then I take the wings off, the wings aren't that edible. We're gonna put them in a tray, sprinkle with sugar on top," says Bardwell.

Then, she puts them in the oven for five to seven minutes, preparing them for a chocolate chip cookie.

"We are going to place one on each cookie, then we are going to bake them again," Bardwell says.

[/i]

[john fish]

I moved back East just in time for a major cicada event.  They were so loud that I could not hear my gas mower when I cut the lawn.

[Joliet Jim]

I'm psyched. Daughters planning an outdoor wedding in July.

[jrt]

  Every 221 years.  Interesting. 

When is the worst time of day to encounter them?

The answer for this is "yes".  I suspect (without evidence) that they are most active in morning and early evening, but the deal is that these little guys and gals have spent the last 13 or 17 years underground (depends on the clade).  They emerge- and they don't eat- they don't even have the machinery to eat. They fly a little bit, but not much.  All they do is sing (males) and mate...and mate...and sing and then the gals lay their eggs.    And then when the mating is done-  they die. 
There will be, quite literally, billions of periodic cidadas, in addition to the normal seasonal ones.  The noise is absolutely deafening- like 'damage your hearing' deafening.  My family all had custom ear plugs made just for this event. :). 

[twowheeladdict]

upload pics


Meanwhile "Love Bug" season in Florida happens twice every year.

Rode thru one of those black clouds and had to stop to clean the visor at the nearest puddle. Visibility went to zero.

i remember riding a bike through the lovebugs.  i had to lay on the tank and look between the speedo and tach.  could feel them on my fingers.