The Cicadas are coming

[Earth_First]

April 30, 2004 -- Residents of Washington, D.C., and 15 states -- from Georgia to Michigan to New York --are awaiting a massive, boisterous grand entrance. A group of cicadas that only emerges once every 17 years is making its way out of the ground --by the billions, at least.



The nymph stage


Adult stage

[For PaisAn]

1. I actually love the sound they make

It's fun to sit and listen to them out in the woods, camping, etc.

[Philosophy]

9. It's not fun when there's a thousand of them

and their combined noise is louder than a jet plane and you're trying to sleep.

[slutticus]

2. Those little bastards...

...almost made me get in a car wreck once. They really freak me out when they fly in my car while I'm driving.

[Earth_First]

3. Pet owners:

The Humane Society is warning pet owners that cicadas emerging across the eastern United States this spring could look like "treats" to cats and dogs.

The insects are full of protein, but their hard outer shells can cause vomiting and constipation in pets.

The vice president of the Humane Society called the one-and-a-half-inch bugs "flying pet toys." They're loud, slow-moving and often low-flying.

The Humane Society advises keeping pets indoors, securing screens and holding tight to dog leashes.

Millions of the large, red-eyed insects emerge from the ground once every 17 years for a mating season that lasts well into June. They do not bite or sting, but their mating call can reach a painful 120 decibels.

[CatWoman]

5. some people eat them, too

I remember when I lived in Indiana, we were deluged by those damn things.

And some people roasted them, and ate them.

[Earth_First]

6. Soft Shelled Cicadas

Soft-Shelled Cicadas

Ingredients:

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

60 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups flour

Salt and pepper to season the flour

1 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Directions:

Marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. (Note: You can skip this step and go directly to the egg step instead.)

Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently sauté until they are golden brown.

[CatWoman]

7. ack!!

:puke:

[arwalden]

18. We Like To Add A Little "Old Bay" To Ours

[solinvictus]

22. Zatarain's here in the South!

[Bertha Venation]

14. marinate alive?

christ, that is inhumane

not funny

jmho, dismiss at will

[CatWoman]

16. well, most seafood is cooked alive

like crabs and lobsters.

[Bertha Venation]

17. Yep. And it's no less disgusting to me, or inhumane. eom

[northzax]

21. can you suggest a humane way of killing them?

I mean you can't pith them, and anything else would destroy the exoskeleton...

[Bertha Venation]

23. how about a shotgun?

No, I can't. I'd say "just don't eat them if you can't kill them humanely," but it's not up to me to tell anyone that. After all, they're only insects, right? :eyes:

As I've said throughout, JMO.

[cliss]

4. Is this a biblical thing?

Help me out here....one of the signs....?

[Lefty48197]

13. Watch for burning bushes.

.

[BlondieK143]

8. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

:puke:

I'm staying inside!

[Momof1]

10. I have a question, and I can't remember the answer from 17 yrs

ago. Don't they eat everything in site? I was wondering if they eat flowers, leaves etc.

I somewhat remember but not to sure. I would like to know before I go out next week and spend money on flowers & garden plants.

Thanks in advance :)

[Earth_First]

12. They have voracious appetites...

Cicadas subsist solely on the fluids of a living deciduous tree. Magicicada adults live off their fatty bodies —and they are capable of sucking fluids from trees. As larvae and nymphs they suck tree fluids from the roots of deciduous trees.

[mvd]

11. I've heard them called..

"God's practical joke." :-(

[Bertha Venation]

15. I'm not looking forward to having to shut the windows at night

and wear earplugs just to get any sleep. But I'll take it. I'm looking forward to the experience. Since I've been out here in MD I've been in a tornado and a hurricane and seen a tree struck by lightning. I'll take whatever the area wants to throw at me before we leave in about 15 years.

[Cush]

19. damn, its been 17 years already?

I was 10 the last time they arrived.

[ProudGerman]

20. the sound they make is like fingernails across a blackboard

Ugh, summer is gonna be extra sucky this year. High heat and suffocating humidity, and now that horrible sound.


Yay.