Broods (Page 16) - Cicada Mania

Magicicada periodical cicada Broods.

June 8, 2013

Cicada Hunting with Chris Simon

Last Sunday (June 1st) I met Chris Simon and Elias Bonaros in Staten Island. Chris was in Staten Island, NY to map cicada locations, and collect some specimens. Elias and I helped her find some M. septendecim and M. cassini.

Elias Bonaros (left) Chris Simon of Uconn (middle) Dan Mozgai (right) looking for cicadas
Elias (left), Chris (middle), Dan (right).

Chris Simon leads the Simon Lab at the University of Connecticut. From her biography: “Chris Simon is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut and Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.” “Recent projects in her laboratory focus on the systematics, biogeography, evolution of cicadas worldwide, the application of information on molecular evolutionary processes to the improvement of tree-building, speciation and its relationship to past climates and landforms, evolution of periodical life cycles, the role of song in the evolution of insect species, and molecular evolution of the secondary structure of ribosomal RNA.”

A Magicicada with Pink Eyes held by Chris Simon of UConn. Brood II. 2013.
Chris Simon holding a pink eyed Magicicada.

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Brood II Magicicada photos from Montclair, NJ

Filed under: Brood II | Magicicada | Periodical | Photos & Illustrations — Dan @ 8:44 am

Enjoy these photos of Brood II Magicicada from Montclair, NJ by Claudine Ohayon.

Click each image thumbnail for larger versions:

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More Cicada Photos from Westfield, NJ by Jim Occi

Filed under: Brood II | Jim Occi | Magicicada | Periodical — Dan @ 8:35 am

Here are more Magicicada photos from Westfield, NJ by Jim Occi.

Click the images for larger versions:

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Brood II Magicicada photos from Scotch Plains, NJ

Filed under: Brood II | Magicicada | Periodical | Photos & Illustrations — Tags: M. septendecim — Dan @ 8:32 am

Enjoy these Brood II Magicicada photos from Scotch Plans, NJ from Judy Lanfredi.

Click each thumbnail image for larger versions.

: Magicicada on an iris flower in Scotch Plains by Judy Lanfredi

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Brood II Cicada Video from 2013

Filed under: Brood II | Magicicada | Periodical | Sounds | Video — Tags: M. cassini, M. septendecim, M. septendecula — Dan @ 6:21 am

Enjoy these videos of the Brood II Magicicada emergence from 2013.

Magicicada septendecim ovipositing

Magicicada septendecim ovipositing.

Periodical Cicadas in Merrill Park in Colonia NJ

Periodical Cicadas in Merrill Park in Colonia NJ.

Either a Magicicada cassini or septendecula

Either a Magicicada cassini or septendecula.

A calling Magicicada septendecim

A calling Magicicada septendecim.

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June 6, 2013

How loud/noisy (in decibels) do periodical cicadas get?

Last Thursday Roy Troutman, Elias Bonaros and I traveled around central New Jersey, looking for cicadas. They were not hard to find. Elias found a location in Colonia that had a particularly loud Magicicada cassini chorusing center. Using my camera and Extech 407730 40-to-130-Decibel Digital Sound Level Meter, I recorded the calls of these cicadas and how loud they can get. The quality of the video isn’t the best because it’s a camera, not a video camera, but it is good enough.

Magicicada cassini chorusing center peaking at 85db (on Vimeo):

Magicicada cassini chorusing center peaking at 85db from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Elias and Roy used finger snaps, mimicking the wing snaps of female cicadas, to trick the males into singing:

Magicicada cassini responding to fingersnaps (on Vimeo):

Magicicada cassini responding to fingersnaps from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

We placed the M. cassini directly on the microphone and got calls as high as 109 decibels, in this video:

Magicicada cassini calling at 109db in Colonia NJ from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

There were a few M. septendecim in the area as well. A Magicicada septendecim goes from a Court II to Court III call as soon as it crawls on the decibel meter, in this video.

Magicicada septendecim court 3 from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

The cicada choruses in Central New Jersey have no doubt gotten louder since last week. Hopefully, on Sunday I’ll get back out to Central Jersey or Staten Island and make some recordings.

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June 5, 2013

Urban Buzz 17-Year Cicada Citizen Science Project

Filed under: Brood II | Community Science | Magicicada | Periodical — Dan @ 7:00 pm

Are you interested in participating in a cicada citizen science project? Check out: Urban Buzz: A 17-Year Cicada Citizen Science Project.

The folks behind the Your Wild Life website are hoping people will collect cicadas and send them to them for a science project to see how Urbanization impacts periodical cicadas.

They want samples from forests, from cities, from suburbs, from farms — in other words, across a gradient from low to high urbanization.

They have instructions on their site as to which cicadas to collect and where to send them.

Time is wasting though. The 17 year cicadas will only be around so long, so you have to act fast.

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June 4, 2013

David Rothenberg, John Cooley and the New York Times

Filed under: Books | Brood II | David Rothenberg | John Cooley | Music — Dan @ 8:52 pm

It isn’t often that cicada celebrities show up on your Mother’s lawn, but when you have a healthy supply of easily catchable singing M. septendecim, and a cicada website, these things happen.

Last Saturday I met up with cicada researcher John Cooley, Japanese cicada researcher Jim Yoshimura, and musician and professor David Rothenberg at Roosevelt Park in Edison NJ. They were looking for male cicadas to perform with David at a World Science Festival event in the Bronx later that night. New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was also there to interview David and John, and artist Asher Jay was there to lend David support.

The cicadas in the park weren’t performing well enough, so I directed them to my Mom’s place in Metuchen.

The Metuchen location yielded many screaming cicadas. David collaborated with the cicadas on the spot with his Ani-Moog iPad app, and a clarinet. John Cooley dropped some cicada science for Stephen Farrell’s video camera as well. My Mom served refreshments. Once enough cicadas were collected, the cicada celebrities departed — before leaving David left my Mom an autographed book and CD. Very cool!

John Cooley & David Rothenberg
A beautiful day for enjoying the song of cicadas in the suburbs of New Jersey.

Stop the killing of cicadas! Help us fight back.

Filed under: Brood II | Magicicada | News | Periodical — Dan @ 5:18 am

Stop the killing of cicadas! Help us fight back!

red white and blue eyes

John Cooley of Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) let me know that The Home Depot has large Ortho stands that advocate the destruction of periodical cicadas. Here is his tweet on the topic.

This is the Ortho Display at Home Depot.Please do your best to contact Home Depot and Ortho, and encourage them… fb.me/V0m4UCZa

— Team Cicada (@Magicicada1317) June 3, 2013

I went to Lowes to check there as well and they had Sevin brand pesticides with hangtags that specifically mention cicadas. When I saw that in person it took all my willpower not to flip out and make a scene.

How can we stop these companies from advocating the destruction of cicadas? We can call, Tweet, and leave posts on their Facebook pages.

Call your local store and demand they remove signage that advocates the destruction of cicadas. Go to their websites, find their contact us pages, and call and email them.

If you see such displays in other stores, let them know how you feel as well. I will personally boycott these stores and sell any stock I have related to them.

Reasons why destroying cicadas is ridiculous:

Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) has a periodical cicada FAQ that features compelling reasons not to destroy these animals.

Here are my reasons:

How often does an event occur that is as strange, sublime, and fascinating as a periodical cicada emergence? Very rarely. Maybe when a comet arrives. Four or five times in a lifetime, at most.
You don’t want to rob future generations of the experience of a periodical cicada emergence, do you? You want your grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be able to experience these amazing creatures.
Urbanization and other stresses are already shrinking Magicicada broods. Why accelerate their demise? Do you want the periodical cicadas to have the same fate as the dodo or passenger pigeon?
It’s unpatriotic to kill periodical cicadas. Why? They’re only located in the U.S.A. They should be the official insect of the United States of America.
Pesticides can cause collateral damage to other insect species like honey bees. Like to eat fruit? How about honey? Well, good luck if you help contribute to the acceleration of the death of honey bees. Read more about this topic. I think it would be ironic if a farmer sprayed to kill cicadas, but killed the pollinating insects as well.
Can cicadas damage or kill small and fruiting trees? I’ve never seen it happen, but it is possible. Did you know that you can net these trees instead of drenching your neighborhood with pesticides? You can. The Magicicada FAQ has a picture of the netting.
Pets and people love to eat cicadas. Do you want to poison your pets and kids when they eat a cicada treated with pesticide? I hope not.
Probably the worst part about a periodical cicada emergence is cleaning up their rotting corpses. If The Home Depot and Lowes were smart, they would be selling Shop Vacs instead of chemicals.
Using pesticides won’t help reduce the amount of time you have to spend cleaning them up. The corpses will pile up either way.
Cicadas don’t eat fruit and vegetables. Unlike other insects, cicadas lack the mouthparts to chew vegetable matter. Unlike a caterpillar or grasshopper, they won’t eat your tomatoes or other garden vegetables.

I can go on and on…

Please help. Use social media to voice your disgust. Call your local store to ask them to take down anti-cicada signage.

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June 2, 2013

Cicadas, stronger than the storm – Surviving Sandy

Filed under: Brood II | Video — Dan @ 8:52 pm

Today Elias Bonaros and I surveyed Magicicada populations along the Staten Island shore at Wolfe’s Pond Park. The shore in this area took a serious beating from tropical storm Sandy. Everyone interested in the cicada populations in this area feared the worst for the cicadas. I’m happy to say that many cicadas survived and are currently singing in the location.

What is most amazing is even the cicadas along the eroded shoreline survived. Their exit holes can be seen in the soil along the beach, and even along the vertical face of the eroded soil.

Brood II; Wolfes Pond Park cicada holes