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In the southeast US (including Kentucky) we are projected to have 3 separate waves of them, two weeks apart, this fall.
They come up out of the ground, climb up the sides of the trees.
Their husk splits open in the back and the flying locust dries off and then flies away to join the swarm.
They coat the sides of our shade trees with the husks that they break out of.
The husks will stay on the sides of the tree trunks for months unless you have a strong broom to knock them loose.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on August 8, 2019 at 8:47 AM
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I always liked the sound of cicadas when I lived in Australia. At midday, around October, they could be deafening. Perhaps they think it's night-time, being in the other hemisphere ... smile.
posted by
mneme
on August 8, 2019 at 6:29 AM
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Well Taqs I have never had the pleasure , but nature is pretty consistent and once heard never forgotten.
posted by
C_C_T
on August 3, 2019 at 9:28 AM
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When I was a kid, trying to go to sleep on hot summer nights was made near impossible by these loud, ratchety-sawing noisy things! But now, like you, I love the sounds, they help me to go to sleep!
There was one a few summers back that lived for a time among the greenery on my deck and made its music about 5 feet from my bed!
posted by
Ciel
on August 3, 2019 at 7:01 AM
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That's right..they're be coming up out of the ground. In the mid-fifties, I remember clouds of them causing it to get dark at mid-day. They're disgusting creatures.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on August 3, 2019 at 5:23 AM
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In a couple of years, we'll be going through the big invasion. They're pretty n eat to me. Like you, I enjoy them.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on August 3, 2019 at 4:26 AM
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I'd never heard cicadas until I moved to Illinois - nights are cool in
western Washington - or they were then. My new inlaws called them locusts and there was something about a 17-year cycle, they were the sound track for hot summer nights, just as you wrote. Thanks for the image of kids sharing a blanket and no doubt telling stories as they listened...
posted by
Pat_B
on August 3, 2019 at 3:32 AM
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Isn't it interesting how a sound or a scent can take us somewhere we haven't been in a long time? I didn't hear cicadas until I was quite well into adulthood, and they were a surprise to me. I think they might be as interesting as the American Ninja Warriors. How fun!
posted by
Sea_Gypsy
on August 2, 2019 at 10:35 PM
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