Posted on 06/10/2008 9:48:26 AM PDT by Disturbin
One of nature's enduring enigmas is making an appearance once again, bringing a sibilant drone to the towns of Cape Cod, as it has every 17 years with startling regularity.
Insects known as periodical cicadas are emerging from underground haunts for a final hurrah - a nearly monthlong orgy of come-hither songs, mating, and laying eggs - before dying and leaving their progeny behind to begin anew the curious and highly unusual 17-year growth period.
Residents are bracing themselves.
"We're thinking about moving to Boston to live with my daughter!" joked Jeanne Duchemin, of Mashpee, who recalls the inundation of the red-eyed bugs during their last appearance. "They were on the cars, hanging from the trees. They are just a nuisance, but they are horrible."
In Mashpee, the high school decided to hold its graduation ceremony indoors last weekend to prevent the insects from interfering.
Because the bugs could number in the millions per acre, specialists say, the mating call performed by the males will make an awesome daytime soundtrack for Cape dwellers - sounding, according to some, like a hovering UFO.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
So, where’s Hillary on that sound comparisons chart?
;-)
As kids, we loved to play with their exoskeletons.
About 95db, right below the snowmobile!
Bill must have earplugs for the few nights he actually spends at home.
They emerged in the ‘70s in Virginia when I was growing up. We lived on 60+ acres of forest and hay pasture, so you can only imagine how many cicadas there were...they were EVERYWHERE. The noise was overwhelming, like a UFO, and loud too. Our poor dogs were going crazy. They’d ping off our cars like hail when we drove, and there were so many bug bodies as they died off, we’d crunch over them on the roads. It was really neat to see, but I’m glad it only happens every seventeen years!
}:-)4
I remember driving into a cloud of these things a few years back. It was like someone had egged my windshield.
Maybe the Cape has a particularly large crop in this cycle, but we see them every 2-3 years around here, just not in overwhelming numbers.
These things make great fertilizer. After the last big hatching we had here I vacuumed them up with my shredder-vac. It took several days just to do the 100ftx400ft stand of trees at the front of our property, but I treated our vegetable garden with them and it was one of the best crops we’ve ever had.
It’s been bad here in East Tennessee too.
Started about a month ago and still going strong.
I really hate cicadas.
Apparently Cape Cod's hatching is also going to hit N. GA, just not as hard:
I was on Cape for the ‘74 and’91 hatchings, really something to see. It’s really erie at dusk when that sound you’ve been trying to shut out all day suddenly stops.
Yup - "Big buzz as cicadas arrive after 17-year gap," by Laura Nelson. Nature, 20 May 2004, page 233."
I suppose a few confused ones come in summer but the BIG SWARMS are a 13 or 17 year event.
Live in southwest Ohio. We had a large 17 year variety cicadas outbreak in 2004. They’re back this year, but in smaller numbers. The highest concentrations are in the western and northern suburbs of Cincinnati ... I was north of of the city yesterday on I-71 ... my windshield is plastered with cicada remains. They are awkward fliers, almost comical to watch.
Cicada Sauerbraten with Spätzle Marinade: 1/2 C vinegar 1/2 C water 1/4 onion, sliced 1/4 stalk celery or 1 tsp celery seed 1/4 carrot, chopped 3 peppercorns 2 cloves 1/16 tsp mustard seeds 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp honey 1/4 tsp ginger Mix together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Sauerbraten: 1 portobello cap 1/4 – 1/2 C blanched, teneral cicadas 1/4 lemon, sliced Mix mushroom and cicadas together in a bowl. When the liquid is boiling, pour it over the mushroom-cicada mixture. Add the lemon slices, cover the bowl, and let the mixture marinade forat least several hours (preferably, overnight). Drain, then sauté the mushroom, cicadas, onion, and carrots (and celery) in olive oil. Gravy: 1-2 T whole wheat flour 2 T yogurt 2 T raisins Heat the marinade mixture. Give the peppercorns, cloves, and mustard seeds some time to add their flavors to the mixture, then remove them. Stir a little of the marinade into the flour, then stir that back into the whole batch, and cook until thickened. When the mixture is thickened, turn off the heat and add the yogurt and raisins. Spätzle Noodles: 1 egg whole wheat flour, as needed Beat the egg slightly, then mix enough whole wheat flour into it to form a thick batter. Use a spatula to mash through a colander into boiling water. Remove when cooked. Assembly: Serve the sauerbraten over the spätzle, with the gravy drizzled/poured over the top.
German Chocolate Cicada Cake
Ingredients:
1 4-oz package German sweet cooking chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 C water
1-2/3 C all-purpose flour (or 1 cup flour and 2/3 cups finely ground dry
cicadas)
50 Female cicadas (blanched)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C butter or margarine
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 egg yolks
2/3 C buttermilk
3 stiff beaten egg whites
coconut-pecan frosting (homemade or from the grocery)
Assembly:
Grease and lightly flour two 8 × 1½ in round baking pans, and set
aside.
In a small saucepan combine the chocolate and water, cook and stir
until chocolate melts, then cool.
Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter or margarine on medium speed of
an electric mixer for about 30 seconds.
Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well on medium speed, then
beat in the chocolate mixture.
Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately to beaten mixture,
beating after each addition.
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Turn cake batter into prepared pans.
Bake in a 350° F oven for 30-35 minutes or until the cake tests done.
Place the cake layers on wire racks and cool for 10 min.
Remove the cake from the pans and cool thoroughly.
Fill and frost top with coconut pecan frosting.
After the frosting is on, line up female cicadas in a circle around
the bottom base as well as the top the cake for that elegant
decoration that makes this cake delicious.
Makes about 12 servings.
Ohio has them right now. Loud suckers!
Tax the Cicadas!
My mother told me about the cicadas coming (she called them locusts, though).
Sure enough, in mid-June this shrieking noise started. Dead locusts were everywhere.
The kid gang I hung with then went around, picked up the bodies, and put them in all the neighborhood mailboxes.
We thought that was a hilarious prank!
I’m on the Cape, and can’t hear a dang thing. High-freq hearing loss can be a blessing sometimes. Wish I could tune out the wife like this sometimes...
Those bugs get around......
And my all-time favorite...
The cicadas provided a memorable accompaniment to my college graduation, which was held outside anyway. That brood should emerge again in 2016. I hope I get to be there.
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