For some reason we have tons of these things!! At night they are soo loud you can hardly hear the cars zipping by the house. I know what they are called but can't spell it so I am not even gonna try LOL
Wish I could have gotton a better pic of him but soon as I took the camera away to get the zoom fixed, he flew off!
O well, he's still kinda ugly even from this distance!
Anyone know what they eat?? Are they good or bad bugs??
Looks like a cicada to me...
http://www.dancentury.com/cicada/faq.html#a7
Yep that is it!! Thanks for the link!
Mollybee, I have always loved the sounds of cicadas and crickets. When they start up, I know it is high summer. When they slow down and finally stop, I know summer is over and it is going to be many cold months before it returns. I even like the way they look, they seem prehistoric to me. I love the way they get louder and louder and louder and then all of a sudden they all stop at the same time. I wonder why they do that?
I have often wondered the same thing. If I had to guess at the # of them that we have in our back yard....I'd guess we had at least 50+ !! That is what it sounds like anyway. I don't ever remember hearing this many before now. It is weird to hear them get louder and louder and then just stops!
Maybe someone knows, there's a way to determine the temperature by counting how often they chirp within a few seconds. I only remember that the warmer it is the faster they chirp.
Carena, I think that applies to cricket chirps. According to our weatherman you can also figure out the date of the first frost by taking the day you hear the first cricket and then adding x number of weeks. Unfortunately I can't remember the exact formula for either of these things. If the weatherman mentions it again I will try to write it down. It would be kind of interesting to see if it works. I know there is some truth to the cricket chirp speed and temperature because I lie in bed in October and hear their pathetic chirps and feel sorry for them.
I didn't know that!! That is pretty neat huh? Guess they had to do that in the old days when there was no TV weather man to tell them the weather.
If you do hear it again, let us know I'd like to see if it works here as well.
If you will get some ducks or chickens you won't have so many of them.
ahh now there's a thought! Good idea!
Ducks also eat slugs...
Hey now we're talking!! I really do need some ducks now!! I guess my only problem would be Berthda...I don't think she'd like ducks walking around in her yard! LOL
Guess I could always try and teach her how to eat the bad bugs!
What a face!! Bertha is great.
Hee hee Yea I don't think she'd take too kindly to ducks or chickens in her yard! LOL
I emailed my local weatherman for the formulas for calculating the temperature based on cricket chirps and the first frost based on cicadas and here is his reply: Count the number of cricket chirps in 14 seconds and then add 40. This number is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Cicadas with their loud sound come out 90 days before the first frost. It is amazing how close to right on these things are. Thank you.
Jym Ganahl
Chief Meteorologist
NBC - Columbus
This message was edited Monday, Jul 28th 7:18 PM
Thanks! I knew it was something simple!
Oh NOOOOOOOO!!!! Tonight Jym Ganahl said the dreaded "F" word....'Freeze Warning!' I can't believe it is here already. Normally we get our first frost the third week in October. Our daytime temps should be in the low to mid 70's right now but for the next week we will have highs in the mid 40's to mid 50's!! Where is this global warming everyone is talking about?
BTW, he said the first cicada was heard here on July 2 and tomorrow is Oct 2. I guess the formula works!
Come to think of it, I haven't been hearing them lately.
Wondering if that means the same for us?!!
I know we are expecting cooler weather but I am really keeping my fingers crossed that the F doesn't hit us for a couple more weeks. I am no where near ready for it!
Might want to check the weather channel. Our local station showed the current jet stream taking a huge dip over our part of the country and going way south. Said it was a winter-type jet stream pattern, unusual to have it here so early. Tomorrow we aren't even going to make it to the 50's.
I better do that now! Thanks for the heads up!
I saw tonight on TV that it's snowing in the upper peninsula in Michigan! I think that's a zone 5 area? Makes me feel spared for a bit. We've had our many nights of frost and finally got the big hard freeze two nights ago.
Y'all sent it all the way down to FL! It was only 79 here yesterday and might have hit all of the low 80's today. We're still supposed to be in the mid to upper 80s here in Central FL. We also got rain sprinkles the last two days--jsut enough to make it dreary.
Okay you guys, I know I'm new at all this computer jargon and I've done pretty well at figuring it out but what does BTW stand for. I know, I know, it's probably so obvious but I can't figure that one out. A dumby here.
BTW=By The Way
By the way. I'm new at this jargon too so I hope I did it right! {:^)
