More Brood XIV Survey Work on Cape Cod

More Brood XIV Survey Work on Cape Cod

Yesterday (Sunday 5/25) I drove back to the Cape and concentrated along the western edge and worked my way inland. I stopped in Bourne, Monument Beach, Gray Gables and N. Pocasset. I did attempt to go into Falmouth but there wasn't any place I could look. Everywhere is private property so this area will have to wait unless someone submits a sighting report. I got a mixed bag of results including some negatives where I found no signs of periodical cicadas whatsoever. Where I found negatives (indicated in yellow on the map) will still have to be re-checked during peak emergence times. Just because I found no signs now doesn't mean they still aren't there.

So Where Are They?

I know what you guys are thinking, where the heck are the Periodical Cicadas in Massachusetts? What can I say? We are already 2 days behind my original prediction. The only thing that I can say is that since this is Brood XIV's northern-most range and our temperatures run on average cooler than the rest of the country, its just taking a little bit longer. We have had an unusually cooler spring so it is taking a while for the soil temperatures to creep up.

In the south, the emergence is in full swing but still we have no adult sightings here in Mass. or on Long Island for that matter.

The Sound of Bacon Sizzling.

That's right, its a strange phenomenon that I noticed yesterday out in the woods. Everywhere I turned I could hear strange noises coming from the leaf litter. However, I could not focus on exactly where the sound was coming from because every time I turned my head in the direction of the sound, it would stop and my attention would be diverted to somewhere else where the sound was coming from. It sounded just like sizzling bacon!

What I think it was, was the sound of periodical cicada nymphs just underneath the soil and moving around the leaf litter. I did not notice this on the previous day, the sound was so subtle that I could've missed it. I really think they are getting ready to emerge.

My Cool New Camera

As you may or may not know, another of my passions is photography. I'm not that good at it now but I hope to be. I recently purchased a Nikon D40 camera. It came with a ton of stuff including a telephoto lense, some UV filters and some lense magnifiers 1x, 2x and 4x. I decided yesterday to give you some different photos rather than nymphs, exit holes and mud turrets. So today I decided to use my new camera, in macro mode just to experiment.

I have to warn you though, these pictures are at super-high resolution and are extreme closeups. They may take a bit to download. You may want to right-click your mouse and select "save target as". That way, you can save them directly to your computer. They are at a 300 dpi resolution to print if you have a digital printer.

Flora:

The above are some native flowers that I found at various places on the Cape. Who knows? Some of these may only be indigenous to the region. I'm no flower expert. If my id's are wrong, please drop an email.

The Distribution Map has been Updated.

I've been getting a lot more reports from the Cape. However, the eastern-most point is Marston Mills. I would like to see some reports coming in from further east. Please report in, if you have them. Also Plymouth county is yet to check in. It may be that the periodical cicadas will arrive there even later than the ones in Barnstable county or, they could be gone. From an historical standpoint though, they should be there. Time will tell I guess. You will have to zoom in on the map if you want to spread the data points out that have been coming in. Also, other regions in the south have been reporting in as well.

More Photos

Well, that's all I got for this round of updates. Keep the reports coming in. I'd like to end this update with some more photos. This time of some fauna. Yes, there are a few shots of a nymph I photographed. But what the hey? After-all, this is a cicada web site. :) Enjoy.

Fauna: