Can you hear them....theyre out & about & some are pretty....

[curious kat]

Can you hear them....they're out & about & some are pretty....

....yes...the Cicada's are here! Found these around the property. First, came across all the "holes", than these outer shells hanging all over.



Then found this guy by accident...could hardly believe it was so near the ground, almost on it....and a very pretty color.



I guess there are different types, but don't know which these are? Here's a little weird note...last year I saw a squirrel eating one....didn't know that they were "meat" eaters!? :O

 

[coazon de oro]

Howdy Curious Kat,

Yes who can forget that sound, especially the Giant Cicadas found in Texas, yes everything is big in Texas. They are around three inches long, and make a very loud sound. We used to tie a string to them when I was a kid, and hold on to it as they flied around. These Giant ones are found from Texas to Argentina. I found that we have 170 species in North America alone. They have different life spans from two to seventeen years, and spend most of their lives under ground.

There is a Spanish song that mimics the song of the Cicada. I had heard it for many years, and it was just last year that I paid attention to it. It is sung as a huapango, which is a style of music that comes from Vera Cruz. I won't try to translate it all just the basic.

In the first verses she is asking the Cicada not to sing, because it's song pierces her soul like a dagger, knowing that it is announcing it's death. She then asks a sailor if there is anything in the bottom of the seas as dark as her sorrows. Then a love wounded bird tells her mutual love is hard to find, just before it flies away. In the last verses, she is under the shade of a tree (like the Cicada) with her guitar, singing this joyful "huapango", because she is dieing, and wants to die singing like the Cicada.

 

[tamrock]

Squirrels eat anything, they always go after the robin eggs around my house. The 13 or so years cicada invasions are like mama from heaven for all kinds of creatures, even people. Bugs were regularly eaten by Native peoples. Fremont reported the Paiutes of the desert west basin & range ate allot of bugs. The Chinese eat bugs all the time. Why would a squirrel pass on such a delicacy?

 

[tamrock]

Howdy Curious Kat,

Yes who can forget that sound, especially the Giant Cicadas found in Texas, yes everything is big in Texas. They are around three inches long, and make a very loud sound. We used to tie a string to them when I was a kid, and hold on to it as they flied around. These Giant ones are found from Texas to Argentina. I found that we have 170 species in North America alone. They have different life spans from two to seventeen years, and spend most of their lives under ground.

There is a Spanish song that mimics the song of the Cicada. I had heard it for many years, and it was just last year that I paid attention to it. It is sung as a huapango, which is a style of music that comes from Vera Cruz. I won't try to translate it all just the basic.

In the first verses she is asking the Cicada not to sing, because it's song pierces her soul like a dagger, knowing that it is announcing it's death. She then asks a sailor if there is anything in the bottom of the seas as dark as her sorrows. Then a love wounded bird tells her mutual love is hard to find, just before it flies away. In the last verses, she is under the shade of a tree (like the Cicada) with her guitar, singing this joyful "huapango", because she is dieing, and wants to die singing like the Cicada.

Linda Ronstadt

 

[curious kat]

"Hi" back coazon de oro....thanks for posting the beautiful song, who would have thought there was a song about "cicadas".!? I think we might have the Texas one's here, ours are at least 3 inches long to! Being from TX, my mom says the same thing about having "pet" cicadas and grasshoppers...now that's "country fun".

tamrock....eeeeeuuuhhh....ok, now that's out of the way....Thanks for the video...I guess I could eat them if it came down to it. Just this morning I took a cute squirrel picture (will post later) & it was eating something....guess what it was...yup! And thank you for telling us who the singer is, she's a great singer from, I think 70's?

 

[antique man]

Nice close-up pics. Thanks for sharing! :-)

 

[piegrande]

Cousins here in Mexico go out at the right time looking for what I would call flying ants. They roast them and eat them. One of the funniest things I have ever seen was a three year old girl with several of them hanging out of her mouth, as she chewed them. She loved them like we might eat popcorn. I tell my wife she can have my share. I have adapted to Mexico, except eating bugs, I guess.

 

[DigIron2]

We had our spell of them here in Va,last spring.I don't think i have seen a green one like that? They don't look to tasty to me,but the bass love them,only problem is keeping them on the hook.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

They used to be all over the pine trees in Georgia, I'd collect the shells up in a bucket as a kid.
My Sally cat, she would catch them in her mouth, they'd flutter and tickle her mouth, she'd sling 'em out, paw at 'em,
get 'em in her mouth again, they'd flutter, tickle...... lather, rinse, repeat.
till she ate it.
Nice Linda Rondstadt.

 

[releventchair]

Seen Linda in concert. Would have blown us away if she had performed that!
Ahh,there is music that tells a story. And touches on the the cicadaaaaaaaaaaaaa....
There are ears that can hear them even when they are not buzzing and it is quite around. Not all of them are old ears.
A couple are outside. Its warm and humid during the day for a couple.
As children we first thought the electric lines were buzzing when hearing the Cicadas.

 

[Produce Guy]

When we were kids,we use to shoot them with our BB/pellet guns.

 

[vpnavy]

Nice photograph (but creeeeeepy)! Thanks for sharing...

 

[curious kat]

Thanks everyone for the interesting "cicada" stories. Looks like some do like to eat them & other insects as well, exotic taste buds! Once ate an ant, was "peppery"...but didn't eat it on purpose. A note on the pretty "green" color...they seem to be that way when then first come out and than turn to the duller colors later. I've gotten to where I enjoy hearing them, gives a nice "summer/fall" mood to the air.

 

[texasred777]

Wish I had dollar for each one I shot with bb and pellet guns!

Always loved Linda Ronstadt. Blue Bayou, and several more.

Releventchair, I 'hear' them all the time! Seriously! I drove bobtailed trucks, pickups, and cars with the driver's side window down for so many years. At least that's what I attribute it to. Worse at times, almost 'deafening'. Just in the left ear. Doc said if it got too bad, I could get a hearing aid that would makes other sounds loud enough that it would be noticeable? Huh? Doesn't sound right!

 

[ronwoodcraft]

I heard them making lots of noise the other night in Nebraska.

When I was a kid in Oklahoma, I would catch one of those and immediately take it to the pond near the house. I would put a hook through it's tail and cast it into the pond with no sinker, and only a matter of seconds with that thing buzzing around on the surface, I would have a bass, or crappie.

 

[curious kat]

texasred...sorry about the "hearing" thing, hope you get it taken care of.

ronwoodcraft..... great fishing tip & story!

a note on the Cicadas....they seem to be dying already...gee they don't seem to last very long once they start.

 

[texasred777]

Thanks, Kat, but unless it gets worse, I'll just live with it. Over the years, I've become accustomed to it enough that I seldom notice it. Too much other racket being made! Actually there are times when it does get a little aggravating.