Cicada: Sounds Like an Alien,Tastes Like Asparagus

The creature's ghost was clinging to a gardenia leaf, and I paused to take photos of the spooky critter.

I was looking at the husk of a cicada nymph. It is summertime, and I was not surprised to see it. 

Every summer in Alabama, the mating calls of cicadas are ubiquitous as evening falls. This strange racket has been likened to the alien sound of a UFO. The male cicada produces his love song by flexing a pair of drum-like membranes in his abdomen, called tymbals. Small muscles pull the tymbals in and out to create the clicking sound. The female cicada does not find the music alien at all, but rather is quite attracted to it. 

After mating, the female cicada lays her tiny eggs in a groove she makes in a tree limb. The eggs hatch after about 6 to 8 weeks. A newly hatched cicada looks a lot like a white ant or termite. The immature cicada, called a nymph, feeds on fluids from the tree until it falls to the ground, and then it searches for roots to feed upon. Depending on the species, the nymph will spend up to 17 years tunneling and feeding underground. While cicadas sometimes injure small trees, they are relatively harmless and do not cause significant environmental damage.

There are about 1300 species of cicadas identified world-wide. Most North American cicadas belong to either the Neotibicen or the Magicicada genus. The Neotibicens are also called annual or dog day cicadas. They emerge from the ground every year during the "dog days" of summer, in late July or August. The most famous cicadas are the Magicicadas. They emerge every 13 or 17 years, swarming out of the ground suddenly and in huge numbers. I still remember when they emerged in Alabama in 2011. Because of their numbers they sometimes are called locusts, but they actually are related to aphids, not locusts or grasshoppers. 

After they emerge from the ground, the nymphs climb the nearest tree and then shed their exoskeleton. Soon their wings inflate with fluid and their adult skin hardens.

Their brief adult life, only weeks, is spent looking for a mate. Males usually sing at night when their predators are less active, and there are plenty of predators. Mammals, birds, and amphibians all eat cicadas, sometimes to the point of gorging themselves. Even many humans consider them a tasty treat. They are high in protein, low in carbohydrate, and gluten free. One can find lots of cicada recipes on the internet. I have never eaten one, but I have heard they taste like asparagus.

You may also enjoy my previous post: Dog Days of Summer 

Dog Days of Summer

The dog days of summer are here.

The steady rise and fall of cicada song greets me every morning when I step outside. It is the sound of an Alabama summer, deeply entrenched into memory from earliest childhood, but I am so accustomed to it that I hardly notice. But I cannot escape the heavy air, already sweltering so early in the morning; it feels exactly like the steamy remains after one shuts off a hot shower. The air smells ripe and moldy. I cannot stay out long, and I wonder how people managed before the days of air-conditioning. 

Watering is definitely the biggest chore in the garden now. With the high heat, many plants, especially those in pots, need a daily supply of water. Fortunately, we have not had a drought this year, and I look to the heavens in hope that watering duties may be suspended for the day.

It is amazing how one minute the sky may be bright blue, then moments later dark clouds are forming as hot, moist air rises rapidly into the atmosphere, fueling a thunderstorm.Torrid air collides with cooler air high above, and the unstable air tumbles violently. Above the freezing line, frozen raindrops crash into each other, creating electrical fields. Soon all this produces a boiling heap of black clouds, high winds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning and sometimes hail, on average releasing the energy equivalent of a 20 ton nuclear weapon: a typical summer thunderstorm, and I am relieved of watering chores for another day.

I took the following photos in my saturated garden after a recent thunderstorm: 

Agapanthus

Close-up, Agapanthus

Anthony Waterer Spirea bloom

Unidentified mushroom

White Pine (Pinus strobus) needles

Southern Magnolia seed pod

Another storm is pounding away as I write this. Whatever the weather wherever you are, be cool!I took this photo a few years ago of Lucee, a friend's dog who definitely knows how to enjoy the dog days of summer!