Saturday 15 February 2014

Cicadas

New Zealand has 42 unique species and subspecies of Cicadas - the biggest is the Chorus Cicada which has a wingspan as wide as your palm, In summer the males can be heard singing in chorus.



We must be having a good year for them, the noise is deafening under this row of Poplars.  I can't imagine how many there are in the trees.



They live under ground as nymphs for up to 3 years shedding their skin as they grow.  Then one night they burrow out and climb onto a post or tree trunk for the final shed.  We see lots of these empty cases around. They fly off in the morning and after mating the females lay their eggs on grasses or trees.  The adults live for 2 to 4 weeks.



  This is one of the male Chorus Cicadas who was busy singing his heart out while I took this photo.




9 comments:

  1. i am sure the sound is deafening.. They are weird looking insects. Great shots! I see you are linking up to my Saturday's Critter party, thank you! Have a happy weekend!

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  2. Great macro shots of the cicadas ~ bet they make a racket ~ thanks ~

    artmusedog and carol
    www.acreativeharbor.com

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  3. Beautiful photos and insects, I love the sound because I know it only from travels and it has somthing of being far away.

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  4. They're pretty amazing. I've not come across them before.

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  5. Great macro shots of the cicadas!Beautiful photos!
    Dimi...

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  6. Awesome photos of these strange critters. We don't have them here.

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  7. I really dislike the sound of cicadas, but some are really beautifully marked.

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  8. I've heard them when I lived in California, but not up in the Pacific Northwest. Must be too wet for them to live in the ground. - Margy

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  9. We do not have these in norway, but they are allways present when travelling south, like Greese. I tried my best to shoot one on my last hollyday, but they were hard to find. You`ve got some lovelly shots :)

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