cicadas

[blazerunner121]

with all this talk of this bug coming out this year after 17 years, has anyone seen it yet? i'm just hoping that when i run on the track or pole vault, they all don't just come out flying at me out of nowhere.

[1yeldud1]

Don't worry, We have had these bugs in Missouri. They are like a locust, they are harmless. The only thing that you will notice is the noise that they make in the trees at night. When they "molt" you will find a thin transparent shell that is attached to the trees. my son had to collect them for a science project one year and we would walk up and place a "dixie" cup over them to capture them and with the noise that they make you would think that they are going to saw right through those cups. If you would be around a farm pond during the time that they are falling off trees you would find that the fish just "love" to have them for dinner.

[polecat]

You shouldn't be concerned. Cicadas are not good flyers. When they are in the air, they will not stay air borne for long because birds gobble them up right out of the air. They are like drive up fast food windows for birds. The cicadas in their final stage of life basically stay in the trees and make a lot of noise and babies. The lucky ones die a natural death after several days.

Fish love them too. I had some of my best fishing experiences using cicadas as bait. Of course, there are so many cicadas that fall into water that, after a while, the fish are so full of them they are no longer interested.

That is probably more than you want to know about cicadas.