Cicada Time – Capture the moment

Are you in the part of the country that is getting plagued with the 17-year cicadas? (Check this map to see where they are.) If so, even though they may seem to be a nuisance, you also have an easy chance to watch a cicada emerge from its shell with your children or grandchildren. Even if you don’t live in this area, there should still be cicadas other than the 17-year cicadas around at some time this summer, watch for the pupae crawling on the ground just before dark.

I can still remember the time when my father brought in a cicada pupa that had crawled out of the ground and was about to hatch. What a thrill it was to see it slowly emerge from the shell, then let its wings stretch out and eventually dry.

My daughter, Joni Huff, lives in Virginia where the seventeen year cicadas are literally bursting out all over, so I’ve encouraged her to let the grandchildren stay up and watch as they take pictures of them. Even though the kids all fell asleep, she still did a fantastic job with the pictures. She tried again another night, and Erica stayed awake the longest. They all enjoyed the pictures, and Jonathan began to draw them. (Note: Click on any of these picture to see more details.)

The first picture was taken when the pupa was first captured and put on a stick. It climbed from one end to the other until Joni put it in a pitcher with a lid on it until it was nearer time to emerge.

The second picture was taken when it finally stopped climbing. Joni said,”He stopped crawling and I started seeing some liquid-y stuff, so I put him back on the big stick so we could see better. He seems to be pulling against his own legs and doing a little dance.”

She must have looked away longer than she planned, because for the third picture she said “He snuck up on me… The back is splitting open. Tried to wake the kids up but they are out cold.”

The fourth, fifth, and sixth pictures show the progression as the cicada emerges from the shell.

The seventh, eighth, and ninth pictures show how the wings look as they stretch out and start drying. The tenth picture shows what the cicada looks like when it is fully dry and ready to fly. Notice how the colors become much more brilliant when it is dry.

Here is a composite video made up of a series of short videos taken of the above cicada as it emerged and stretched its wings.

Jonathan, my artistic grandson, made the awesome drawing below of one of the cicadas. He is working on more illustrations of the various phases as they emerge. I hope to post them in a few days.

Here are three more pictures Joni took that give you an idea about how many cicadas have been hatching out in her neighborhood the past couple of weeks.

This last picture is of a cicada that couldn’t shed the last of the shell, so Erica helped to remove the shell and let it fly away.

Posted by Janice D. Green, author of The Creation and The First Christmas.

Do you have cicadas in your neighborhood? Do you have kids around? If you answered yes to both questions, It’s time for some nature sharing fun.