Tabitha and I went on a cicada hunt sometime last month. These guys emerge from the ground once every 17 years for a mass mating. Their babies hatch and bury themselves for another 17 years.
We finally found them at a forest preserve in the northwest suburbs (Glen Ellyn, IL). Boy were they loud! And e v e r y w h e r e. And so ugly. It was awesome. On one small plant, I counted over 30 cicadas. They were pretty inactive; just sat there and stared with buggy red eyes. But, when they climbed up a tree to find a mate, they were in a real hurry! My scientific observation and calculation puts them at a proportional speed of 35 miles an hour. We must have ogled for almost an hour. Tabitha has a video of one climbing and of us screeching in delight in the background.
Click blog title for pictures at Tab's flickr page.
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