Bride wore white (plus a few cicadas). (The Chicago Tribune)

Cicadas? Feel the love (FortWayne.com)

Nothing to stop the cicada influx (The Daily Vidette). NOTHING!

Preparing for the invasion. (Beacon News). More advice about protecting your wimpy trees.

As you may have heard, cicadas can damage small trees (like wimpy ornamentals) as they lay their eggs in the branches. The Chicago Sun-Times has a good article titled Arbor Day takes cover against cicada swarm, that will give folks with wimpy trees strategies for dealing with the upcoming emergence. If you’re concerned, read the article.

Tips:

• Use netting to protect trees. If you start looking now, you can probably find some at a local Home Depot or garden supply store. Beat the rush.
• Delay plantings until July.
• Don’t use pesticides. It isn’t worth it. Bee populations are in bad shape so we don’t want to do any collateral damage to other species. After 11 years of running this web site, I’ve heard a few stories about family pets dying after consuming pesticide covered cicadas or grass. Don’t do it!
• Native species of trees, like oak and maples, fare much better against cicadas because they’ve co-evolved for 100’s of centuries. Wimpy ornamentals from Asia fare a lot worse. Plant only proud, American trees.

If you’re looking for historical information about previous brood emergences try Cicada Central’s Magicicada Database. Click on the link that reads Magicicada Database and then follow the instructions (hint: search for the 13 (XIII) brood and the year 1990).

Spectrum Technologies is monitoring the soil temperature in Plainfield and Naperville Illinois.

In northern Illinois and surrounding areas, three species of Magicicada emerge from the soil every 17 years for a brief above-ground visit. Brood XIII will emerge when soil temperature reaches approximately 65° F. Spectrum data loggers are busy tracking soil temperature near Spectrum headquarters in northern Illinois to estimate when to expect their arrival.

Rene reported on the message board that she saw Magicicada nymphs in holes in a friend’s garden in SE Elmhurst Illinois.

We’re currently expecting the emergence to start on May 24th, but the hot weekend might have roused the cicadas to an early start. We’ll see.

You must read What good is a cicada? in Beth Botts’ The Chicago Gardener (Chicago Tribune). Stay tuned to Beth’s blog for more articles like Nymphs? no problem!

Events: The Northbaert Nature Museum has a few Magicicada releated events you can attend.

Be a Cicada Scientist! Forest Preserve District of DuPage County wants you to be a Cicada Scientist. Participate in a survey of periodical cicadas this spring. Watch the video.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, Cicada

The Return of the Cicadas 17-Year cicada documentary will be airing on PBS in the Brood XIII emergence area soon. As soon as next Thursday, 4/26. Set your Tivo/DVR to record it!

Periodical cicadas are among the most unique creatures in the animal kingdom. After spending 17 years underground as juveniles, they emerge for a brief, cacophonous population explosion aboveground, where they transform into adults, mate, lay eggs and die off after only a few weeks.

WFYI presents Return of the Cicadas, an original local documentary produced in association with the Indiana University Research and Teaching Preserve. Producer Samuel Orr followed the life cycle of Brood X, which made its momentous ascension in the spring of 2004. It accounted for one of the largest insect outbreaks on Earth. Many different broods exist, on unique 17-year schedules. Brood XIII is due to arrive in northern Indiana this May.

Through stunning close-up video and time-lapse photography, Orr and others offer an amazing glimpse at the lives of these enigmatic insects. The documentary was made possible by the research of IU biologist Keith Clay through grants provided by the National Science Foundation. The NSF and Science Magazine recognized the production with a national award for a short 5-minute film on the Brood X outbreak.

Here’s a sample of the show from YouTube:

Video: Cicadas Return: MyFox Chicago. Thanks to Catherine Savage of the Lake County Forrest Preserves for the link.

Video: Bug Invasion: News 23.

Text: Cicadas crawl back after 17 years.

Text: ‘Magicicada’ expected to show up some time in June .

Text: The cicadas are coming!.

Not Brood XIII, but cicadas in general: Amateur Entomology: Insect Wing Nanostructure.

Thanks to Roy for some of the links.

insects from the forests of Chiang Mai is an excellent website featuring many photos and audio recordings of cicadas from Thailand. If you want to explore cicadas around the world, it’s a great place to start.

Technorati Tags: cicadas, Thailand

Cicadas Expected to Return to NW Indiana This Spring FOX 28.

The cicadas are coming! Millions of buzzing pests are about to invade.

Video: Return of the cicadas on WGNtv. Features some of Roy Troutman’s video and photos.

Technorati Tags: cicadas, Brood XIII