MOTHER NATURE

I think this is one of Mother Nature’s most curious creations….the cicada.  Here in the Northeast United States, it’s time for their emergence after 17 years. Yes, 17 years!  They live underground all that time, taking nutrients from the roots of trees, then make their way to the surface.  The brown shell you see is what they look like when the come out of the ground and attach themselves to a surface, usually a tree.  I don’t know how this guy made it to my front porch. The cicadas only live a few weeks…during that time they mate and lay their eggs.  The eggs are about the size of a grain of rice.  When they’re able, they burrow into the ground and the cycle begins again.  Cicadas are a bird delicacy…..sometimes they even catch them in mid-air and have a tasty snack.  Despite their scary look, they do no harm to anyone or anything other than making A LOT of noise.  Gentle giants I guess!   I was lucky enough to spot this one the other evening right after it’s metamorphosis. It must have been there all day but I never noticed it until it came out of its exoskeleton.  When I looked about 5 minutes later, it had flown away. Next cicada brood……2030.  You can hear and see a live one in the video below……imagine hundreds, maybe thousands of them making that noise at the same time!!!!  It’s the male cicadas trying to attract a mate.

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  It takes HOURS for this to happen. Found on wiki.