Here’s quite a few photos Roy has taken of the emergence. It’s kind of ironic that I’m staying with Roy and his family, and yet it’s taken me this long to post the photos.
June 4, 2008
BBC Filming in Mariemont
I’m catching up on the photos Roy Troutman has sent me.
Here’s photos from a BBC photoshoot in Mariemont Ohio, taken on May 24th. The photos feature cicada expert Gene Kritsky.
Where are they now, and what is that smell?
Where:
Folks wondering where the cicadas are now should take a look at the ‘Where Are They Now’ page on The Mount’s Cicada Web Site or the ‘See a map of 2008 Periodical Cicada sightings’ page on magicicada.org. You can zoom in on the maps and find public spaces (like parks) which you can visit to experience the event. You can report your sightings to these websites as well.
What’s that smell?
The one aspect of these cicadas that most cicada sites don’t discuss is the odor that their rotting corpses produce, to paraphrase John Cooley. Cicadas can get real funky, and by funky I don’t mean Parliament-Funkadelic funky, or even Red Hot Chilli Peppers funky — I mean “someone filled running sneakers with cheese and pork fried rice and left it in the trunk of their car in July” funky. Cicadas do stink, especially when their bodies pile up at the base of trees, and get soaked with rain, and then baked in the late-spring heat. They smell like a rotten pork roll, bacon, and cheese sandwich to me. They really do. They’re fleshy insects — get a pile of them together, and it’s just like having a rotten pile of meat and fat in your yard.
So what can you do about the funk? Clean up before they get funky. Be proactive. Just get a shovel and dispose of them with your garbage, bury them like a Soprano, or put them in your compost pile (they are very, very mineral-rich and will make great fertilizer for trees and shrubs). I don’t recommend burning them, and that might increase the stink, nor do I recommend grabbing handfuls of rotting, wet corpses and throwing them at your friends. Bad idea.
June 2, 2008
Light on the pronotum
Roy Troutman’s brother in law Gary spotted this Magicicada with an unusually light pronotum. Normally the pronotum features 2 dark/black patches. In this example they are almost non-existent.
New York and Massachusetts have begun
According to reports on the message board, other cicada sites and the media, the emergence has begun in Long Island and Massachusetts. The only state not to check in so far has been New Jersey. I can speculate why, but I won’t in this forum.
June 1, 2008
Eclosing Magicicada in Roy Troutman’s backyard
Eclosing/molting Magicicada in Roy Troutman's backyard on June 1st 2008 in Ohio.
Eclosing Magicicada in Roy Troutman's backyard from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
May 31, 2008
Eclosing Magicicadas in Loveland Ohio
Eclosing/Molting Magicicadas on May 31st, 2008 in Loveland Ohio.
Eclosing Magicicadas in Loveland Ohio from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
May 26, 2008
Cicada emergence photos from Loveland OH
Roy sent in a batch of photos from the Loveland OH emergence. I’ll post more and larger versions as soon as I’m done celebrating Memorial Day.
May 25, 2008
Cicada Webcam is … down for the next 17 years
Here’s a shot from Roy Troutman’s Cicada Cam from 5/27:
May 24, 2008
Emergence Update
This should be a warm weekend all around the Easter half of the U.S.A. so the cicadas should definitely be emerging in Pensy and south.
G Murphy reports that he can hear them over he sound of his tractor in Muddy Pond, Tennessee.
Susan Blase reports that the cicadas are crawling up through their pavers in Bear Gap, Pennsylvania.
Karen reports that the emergence is “unreal” Northern McCreary Co., KY.
Leann reports that there are hundreds coming up through the ground in Bowling Green, KY.
June reports that there are so many that the grass is moving in Richmond, KY.
Becca reports “There are hundreds in my yard in Huntington, West Virginia“.
Verna reports that the emergence has begun in Frankfort, KY.
John Ashville reports that they’re singing in Asheville, NC.
Mike reports that “the yard looks alive as hundreds, perhaps thousands have emerged in the lawn” in Radcliff, Hardin County KY.
Roy Troutman reports that they have emerged in Batavia OH, and both Roy and Matt Berger report that they have emerged in Loveland, OH.
Some photos from Roy:
Don’t forget to:
- Report your sightings to magicicada.org
- Take photos and video
