THEY-RE BA-ACK

[cincygreg]

Break out the cheesecloth, the tiin foil and your extra large fly swatter, the cicadas are coming back (but not everywhere this time)

Last Updated: 12:13 pm | Friday, April 25, 2008
Cicadas making noisy return
THE ENQUIRER

Those ugly, noisy cicadas that bug us from time to time are coming back this spring.

Gene Kritsky, a professor of biology at the College of Mount St. Joseph, says in a news release that cicadas are coming to eastern Cincinnati this May.

These bugs last appeared in large numbers in eastern Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties in 1991.



The emergence this year is part of the larger emergence of Brood 14 that will occur in south central Ohio, over the eastern half of Kentucky and parts of Tennessee, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

In Greater Cincinnati, he says, the cicadas are expected to emerge in the area mostly east of I-71.

?Areas such as Milford, Terrace Park, Montgomery, Madeira, Kenwood, Loveland, Mariemont, Indian Hill, Madisonville, and Sycamore Township experienced large numbers of cicadas in 1991.?

Kritsky says many of those areas also had cicadas emerge in 2004, when the larger Brood X came out.

Kritsky has been studying periodical cicadas for 34 years.

Kritsky and his students will be determining the western boundary of this year?s cicada emergence as part of a long-term study of the cicadas in Cincinnati.

The emergence this year will provide critical details in how the broods are related to each other.

?The cicadas are slowly revealing their secrets,? he says.

Brood XIV was first reported in Ohio in 1804 when they emerged in Brown County. Georgetown has recorded them since 1855, and the oldest historical record in Cincinnati goes back to 1872.

For more information about Brood XIV, go to www.msj.edu/cicada. The site features a special section for educators, podcasts by Kritsky and a map of the emergence.


Cicadas, the crunch when you squish 'em! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]

More here on the areas where they will most likely appear.

CICADA SQUASHING IS FUN

Noisy, pesky, little bug eyed things they are. (well, it makes sense that they have bug eyes since they're bugs but work with me on this one)

I SAY SQUASH 'EM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<font color="#CC6600" size="1">[ April 25, 2008 04:52 PM: Message edited by: cincygreg ]</font>

[cincygreg]

Here they come
climbing up the trees
get squished and squashed by
everyone they meet
hey hey
they're cicadas!

All this rain may soak the ground just enough [img]eek.gif[/img]
The 2008 Cicada Calendar

Late April to early May
After strong soaking rains, cicada nymphs may build little chimneys of mud to escape the high water.

Mid- to late May
As the ground temperatures increase, the cicadas wait for a nice rainy day to soften the soil. If ground temperatures are 64? F, then cicadas will emerge.


They're not even here quite yet, and I'm ready for them to go!

[Becky Eliza Potter]

I need to post my bug paste recipe on here again I guess.

[cincygreg]

This warmer weather has woken them up. [img]eek.gif[/img]

havent seen any yet round here though.

According to the experts, they shouldn't be too bad by me...


Old red-eyes are back
the enquirer may 27th
Old red-eyes are back. And singing ? through July 4 ? in a tree near you.

Cicadas belonging to the family known to experts as Brood XIV emerged over the Memorial Day weekend to menace Eastsiders from Mariemont to New Richmond.

?I spotted 175 per square yard on the lawn of Mariemont?s adminstration building,? said Gene Kritsky, cicada sage and College of Mount St. Joseph biology professor.

?At this rate,? he added, ?expect between 2 and 3 billion of them in Southwestern Ohio.?

Those numbers are down from the last cicada invasion. In 2004, five to seven billion members of Brood X swarmed in neighborhoods, mostly to the west of Interstate 71.

While the bugs might be fewer in number, they?ll still be singing.

?Individual songs can be heard right now,? Kritsky added. ?They will start chorusing over the weekend and be at their peak by June 7. By July 4, they?ll be gone.?

Until Independence Day, the cicadas will be singing their mating songs. At full blast.
?I once measured the sound of a cicada singing in a tree at 96 decibels,? Kritsky said. ?That?s louder than the planes flying over my Delhi Township home.?

Brood XIV is a bunch of latecomers. Initial computer models Kritsky looked at predicted an emergence by May 13.

?But then we had the two cool weeks in April,? he added. ?That slowed things down. Otherwise, owing to global warming, they would have emerged two weeks earlier than the historical average.?

For cicadas to emerge from their 17-year subterranean slumber, the soil needs to reach 65 degrees.

?We hit that over the weekend,? Kritsky said. ?So, they got active.?

The professor tracks the bugs? whereabouts on his Web site. They seem concentrated in southern Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, but scattered sightings also have been reported from Chicago to Boston.

For the latest sightings and to report emergences, visit http://www.msj.edu/cicada.

As with every cicada emergence, the fundamental things about these insects apply: They do not carry disease. They do not sting or bite humans. They do not taste good.
?I ate one from the last brood in 2004,? Kritsky said.

He rated the cicada for mouth feel: ?Like eating something squishy from a cold can of asparagus.?

And taste: ?The juice from that same can.?


Dont forget to leave us all that recipe Becky! [img]graemlins/gulp.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/gulp.gif[/img]