Stick With What Works - St. Patrick Cemetery

Stick With What Works - St. Patrick Cemetery

Today I checked other areas around Massachusetts but with no results other than finding a nymph shell on a pine tree at the Boston University Corporate Education Ctr in Tyngsboro, Ma. So I won't bore you with the details of places where I have been striking out.

Hey, you go with what works and lately St. Patrick Cemetery seems to be working just fine.

Tonight is a really hot and humid night. It's one of those nights where you want to remove all your clothes to cool off but you still feel a thin sheen of sweat on you and no matter how many cold showers you take and dry off you still can't get completely dry.

One saving grace is that the wind is blowing really hard. This not only helps to cool but also keeps those pesky mosquitos away. To be honest I'm sick of spraying myself down every night with repellant and going back home smelling to high heaven.

I have a good feeling about tonight. The conditions seem ideal for hunting Cicadas. First thing I did was head for my favorite ash trees where I had discovered nymphs previously. Sure enough the first ash tree I looked at had two nymphs on it. One was a lot smaller than the other. I suspected this one to maybe be T. canicularis. I decided to take these specimens. After all I already have 4 but 3 are female and the only male I have up to this point is deformed. I proceeded to put these nymphs in my mason jar.

Continuing on I went to another ash tree that I discovered approximately 22 nymph exuvia on over a week ago. Every time I walk in the grass and I hear a "crunching" sound I'm afraid that I just stepped on a nymph crawling along the ground. I'm always walking with my flashlight on but I'm still afraid that I'll miss one and accidentally step on it. Can you imagine living underground for sometimes in excess of 5 years only to emerge from the ground to molt and be stepped on?

Fortunately this has never happened (knock on wood). I inspected a few pine trees - nothing. The wind is really picking up.

I checked a few more of my favorite ash trees and found another nymph so I'll take it as well. I placed it in my mason jar along with the other two that I just got.

It's very windy outside. If these nymphs were left out in the wind when they molt, the wind may spill them to the ground right in the middle of the molt process. I surely didn't want that to happen. So I leave the cemetery with three new nymphs.

When I got home home I tell my fiance Kim that I got three nymphs. She's definately NOT impressed.