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| "I'm Coming For You!" |
A picture of a 17-year cicada from early June. I was on an exterior shoot in Northern Kentucky near Cincinnati. These insects were everywhere.
The 17-year cicadas are an amazing example of nature. Millions of these insects emerge from the ground and fill the trees with a deafening noise on hot days. It is quite a spectacle. Then after a few weeks; they are gone.
It is fascinating to think that these insects have been living underground for 17 years. They metamorphose into flying insects to mate. Then the cycle starts again.
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| This cicada was exploring an S360. Maybe attracted to the sound of the fan? |
The cicadas look fearsome but are harmless. They are just an annoyance for a few weeks.
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| A picture from the same shoot with a fun app making it look like an old video tape. |
It is amazing how much the world has changed in 17 years. Just one example, I couldn't have even imagined a light like an S360 17-years ago. I can't even imagine what lights will be like 17 years from now!
PS: To my surprise, we had no cicadas where I live in Lexington, KY. I saw a few just north of town, but that's it. Our 17-cicadas will show up in 2025.
Here is a link to a US Forest Service periodic (13 and 17 year) cicada map:
https://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/docs/CicadaBroodStaticMap.pdf
Nature is amazing!
PPS: We do have annual cicadas. They are just making their presence known in July. They sing their loud screechy song, high in the trees, on hot summer days; of course in much smaller numbers than the periodic 17-year cicada.
PPPS: A bonus video from last year; I found this video of cicadas in a tree on my phone. The video is from June, 2021 in Fort Mitchell, KY.
There are thousands of them just in this one tree. What the video doesn't convey is the deafening sound of all these cicadas under the tree.