Brood XIII - The Emergence by jasonj
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Description
Brood XIII Cicada Emergence - Villa Park, Illinois
Night photography, Nikon D100. A lot of detail in the full size image for those looking to be creeped out.
Brood XIII... Emergence... Sounds more like a horror movie, and for the next month or so it will play out like one. Billions (yes, BILLIONS!) of these critters will wake from a seventeen year sleep across northern Illinois, crawl out from the ground, climb into trees, molt and mature in about a day. They will then spend the next 4-6 weeks mating, sucking on sap and trilling like crazy (90 decibels... that's the way to attract the ladies!). Then they'll die and the eggs will hatch and do it all again 17 years from now. My son and I spent the evening watching them crawl from the ground by the hundreds with our flashlights. He'll be 20 the next time this brood pokes it's head out. Didn't want to miss the first night of local emergence... and waiting for daylight photography felt like cheating. Hope to get some good macros of the fully mature adults in future days. And maybe even stumble across one of the extremely rare genetic defects that don't have red eyes.
Thanks for looking...
-JJ-
Comments (13)
YARDOBE
Very lucky of you to capture,and so nicely, a truly rare event!
cynnadruidess
I simply love the image of you and the boy bugwatching. smiles
angelbearzs
that is very aweome:)
Hexagon
You are so lucky to see them shed ! Ive managed to watch grasshoppers and Harequins do this but never yet the cicada. Billions of creatures? bet you took 100s of photos :^) I did some cicada illustrations recently that you might enjoy. Hope you post more photos of these, its fascinating subject! ...Di (Hexagonal Mandala)
kurtsart
Great captures! They amaze me with the flowing chatter in the trees (meant to record them 3 years ago when I was in St Louis oops.)
42n8
What a great capture, love it.
viper
I have a agree what lucky timing, excellent capture also.
Hendesse
Stunning macros, fantastic details. Very interesting to see!
Richardphotos
I heard on the tv about the cicadas emergence. I remember as a kid. they do make a terrible noise and they do lots of damage to trees. outstanding capture. I have only seen the empty shells after the fact and the new cicadas waiting to dry. excellent captures
elmurray
Now, that is nature at its best! I certainly will never have the opportunity to see this for real so thank you for sharing it with us. Brilliant work!!
pauljs75
All the hype, and you manage to get the first pics... Are you gonna send your pics to the local news so everyone can see it after the weather forecast is done?
Mariisol
Oh that's awesome! It's great to see something like that happening, so fascinating to see.
zoren
wow