"Dog Days" (Cicadas) of Summer

  It does not take long for me to become interested in something when on my hikes about the hillside.  Let it be a snake slithering under the woodpile, a mass of blooms on the morning glories or some bug creepy-crawling up the porch rail.  In fact, it was all three this morning.  The slender ribbon snake that was in the frog pond a few days ago made a hasty retreat beneath the woodpile just beyond the garden and the volunteer morning glories were outrageously gorgeous this morning after a rainy night.  Still, it was that bug on the porch rail that riveted my attention. 

  Actually, Mark found our critter while I was moving the porch chairs.  A cicada had just crawled from its nymph stage into adulthood.  The critter was still "drying" its wings so was literally at our disposal for a photo opportunity.  Since a cicada at this stage cannot do a whole lot of anything other than sit, it was easy to even get super closeups of its face.  A cicada face always intrigues me due to the weird mouthpart and the fact that they have five eyes.  The mouthpart is not used for much since adults rarely eat as they are too focused on finding a mate and three of those eyes are merely used to distinguish light and dark.  Not many creatures can tout having either of those fine attributes. 

  As near as I can tell, this is a Dog Day Cicada.  (Yep, that is a real thing.)  I find it rather hard to positively identify these critters while they are not fully transformed into an adult.  The colors appear different but, in this case, most of the markings point to a Dog Day Cicada.  This cicada has a call that is almost deafening and sound a good bit like someone using a table saw.  It calls both day and night and when there are hundreds, it is a sound you will never forget.  It is said that our Dog Day Cicada prefers pine trees which makes a lot of sense when you consider we have a lot of those about the place.  This type lays its eggs in the treetops and once the eggs hatch, the larvae drop to the ground and burrow.  They live underground for the next three years or so before crawling out, molting and starting the cycle anew.