Saturday, in Doodletown, we found a few Magicicadas.
And heard, in the distance, always the distance, the science-fiction-like thrum of them in the trees.
On Sunday, we returned to Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island.
Up on the hill and along Royal Oak Road, we found thousands and thousands and thousands of the husks.
This is the bus shelter at Little Clove Rd and Victory Blvd, and yes, those are cicadas.
Again the thum was in the distance, but we could never get underneath it.
At the base of this tree, which itself was studded with the husks, the caramel colored husks are piled, along with abortive adults, and pieces of the adults.
The sights were awe-inspiring, humbling, and just a wee bit creepy. The latter, especially, when they fell on you.
Looks like many of the adults failed to successfully emerge from their nymphal armor.
Alive and kicking; you can see the tube-like mouth part here, which it uses like a straw to feed.
Magicicada Now
8 responses to “Magicicada Now”
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They haven’t seemed to have emerged here in Kansas City yet.
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Brood II is strictly an East Coast emergence.
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Elitist!
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Holy chitin!
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[…] and points north in all its glorious crunchy cacophony numerous times because it was so much fun: here here here & […]
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[…] with the periodical Magicicada genus cicadas, who spend 17 years (13 further south) underground. Our last Magicicada apotheosis here was in 2013. Climate change, by the way, seems to be making the periodic nymphs lose count of the years: they […]
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[…] Paved over Brooklyn is not blessed with periodical cicadas, alas. You can see reports from 2013 here and […]
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[…] June 3, 2013. […]
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