Mapping Brood I Periodical Cicadas - Day 3

Mapping Brood I Periodical Cicadas - Day 3

Today was a pretty productive day as far as cicada mapping is concerned. I ended the mapping for the day yesterday outside of Brandywine, West Virginia along Route 33 West. Today.

I decided to pick right up where I left off continuing further west along Route 33 into Franklin, West Virginia. It is a very scenic route and the periodical cicadas were singing in very high densitities along this road.

This part of Route 33 in Franklin is known as "Friend Run Rd" and while the cicadas were screaming everywhere, there was really no where to park so I decided to stop at someone's house and introduce myself. I indicated that I was part of a larger group mapping Brood I periodical cicadas and I asked if they wouldn't mind if I pulled into their driveway to collect specimens. They didn't mind at all and we soon began to strike up a very good rapore. I was introduced to "Cody" the grandson and soon got him involved with the process of collecting, killing and cataloguing the cicadas.

What is interesting is that they really were not aware that there were three different species of Periodical cicadas and when I pointed this out and demonstrated the three different calls, they were quite fascinated.

In retrospect I probably should have taken some photos of my hosts but the cicadas were screaming and I really wanted to get to collecting. All three species were present at this location and I collected a good number of them. I filmed many videos and also photos. For now, enjoy the photos only below.

Time to Continue the Journey

Together we managed to catalogue approximately 50 cicadas thanks to Cody's help. I thanked everyone for the gracious hospitality and continued west on Route 33.

I followed Route 33 up the eastern face of North Fork Mountain where I stopped at the summit and took some photos of Germany Valley some 3,000 feet below.

I continued on Rte 33 all the way in to Petersburg, W.V. I again started to pick up a great many negative regards once in town which is typical. In Petersburg, I headed south on Route 220 and heading towards Harrisonburg, VA. Immediately south of Petersburg I again picked up the familiar call of the periodical cicadas. In addition I am happy to report that I also heard Okanagana canadensis along this route as well. They seem to be in scrubby pine right along the roadside with the pines growing out of rocky outcroppings along the road. Trying to obtain specimens would have proved treacherous.

That is essentially the tale of my journey for today. Eventually I made it back into the town of Franklin and headed east back along Route 33. More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading.