The Cicadas are coming!

[ballettmaus]

A Plane Carrying Biden's Press Corps Was About To Take Off. Then The Cicadas Swarmed

A plane carrying dozens of journalists abroad to follow President Biden's trip to Europe was delayed several hours due to cicadas that filled the plane's engine.

www.npr.org

Are they sure they meant to write that the male die at the end of July and not June? Last I heard/read, they live 4-6 weeks. July would be stretching it.

It's interesting that they're way past peak at my mom's school in the very south of Maryland and at least parts of DC already and they are about at peak in the Dulles area.

 

[Susan1]

1. I think this is the peak for us. They have stopped for a day or two when it has been chilly and/or raining. It's hot again, so there must be more of them coming out.
2. There were dead ones all over the Walgreen parking lot (one in the toilet paper aisle), and live ones on the walls outside.
3. One flew in when I opened the car door. It was so hot and humid while I was in there, it was dead when I came back out.
4. When I got home, a bird was eating one in the yard, then I saw this -

Dead birds are falling from the sky in Ohio: Are cicadas to blame?

Cicadas have taken the blame for a lot lately, like noise complaints and accidents. Could the sudden death of birds be next?

www.wlwt.com

 

[Sparks]

https://twitter.com/wet_dad/status/1402772679481036804

This twitter thread is hysterical.

 

[Vagabond]

A cautionary note on eating cicadas to get high:

Some cicadas infected with psychedelic fungus that causes mating frenzy

Massospora cicadina, laced with the same chemical as psychedelic mushrooms, infects a small number of cicadas

www.theguardian.com

 

[gkelly]

A cicada just landed on the outside of my window.

Late hatching? Especially long lived?

 

[skatingguy]

A cicada just landed on the outside of my window.

Late hatching? Especially long lived?

There are other cicadas on different cycles that will also be hatching this year.