locust plague

Trois asked me about the locusts here. So far they've reached the southern art of Israel and the Dead Sea area. We haven't noticed them here in our city yet (halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem) but it was expected to happen at some point. However, the onset of cold weather (finally) seems to have put a stop to their progress. I'm going to copy a short article from the Ha'aretz newspaper below...

-Julie

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=locust&itemNo=504872

Weather puts halt to spread of locusts

By Nir Hasson

Last Update: 23/11/2004 01:31

The harsh wintry conditions prevailing yesterday throughout most of the country halted the spread of locusts in the south of the country, and the remaining swarms in the area were either destroyed or disappeared and new swarms did not appear.

Most of the swarms that landed on Sunday night in the Dead Sea and Arava areas disappeared with morning. Agriculture Ministry planes made two sorties spraying the swarms in the Ein Yahav area, and farmers in that area reported minor damage to their crops by the locusts on Sunday.

During the day, however, the high alert over the insects remained in effect in the Arava. Another swarm was sprayed yesterday morning from the ground by farmers in the Eshkol area near Talmei Eliahu. And while there were reports during the day of isolated spottings of locusts in various areas, there were no new sightings of swarms.

Yesterday afternoon, the air force was reporting a large 10-kilometer-long swarm approaching Israel from Sinai, but by evening it had failed to materialize in the country, and experts said it was likely the harsh weather conditions in the country kept the swarm out.

That sounds like you get to keep your plants a little longer.

LOL

For now anyway. These first rains in autumn are sneaky. They last for about a week and then we're back to praying for rain again for weeks and weeks and weeks. We may well see those locusts if the rains stop too soon....

I don't want to lose my garden, but I wouldn't mind a FEW chewed leaves just to get a glimpse (and maybe a pic) of one or two of those buggers. LOL

We wait.....

-Julie

During the dust bowl days in Oklahoma I remember the very large swarms that ate everything. They even killed large cottonwood trees by eating all the bark. Same for Mesquite trees. After they ate every thing and died they drifted like snow and covered fences and roads 3 to 4 feet deep. The sound the dried bodies made was something I will never forget. When the wind blew, they made a high pitched rattle. I hope you don't get to have this experience.

3-4 FEET deep?!?!?! OMG! I didn't say I wanted the swarms....just a lost individual or two LOL. The rest can drown in the floodwaters near the Dead Sea!....or better yet in the middle of the Sinai somewhere where the dead bodies will be welcome food for hungry desert animals!

Julie

Good idea, feeding the starving creatures of the Sinai.

waste not want not ;-)

Bless your heart having to content with this possibility!!!

I wish you the best!!!

Judy

Thanks Judy. It looks like the possibility of it reaching us now is pretty slim. Fingers crossed it stays that way! :-)

-Julie

Well the plague doesn't seem quite over yet. Although there aren't any swarms left that I know of, several sightings of the red locusts were reported here in our city yesterday. Of course, yesterday and the day before were totally sunny. Today is raining again.....maybe that will stop the errant locusts that have made there way here. I sure wish one had shownin my garden though. I mean, if they're here, I'd like to see one! Even in the newspapers I haven't found a photo of one. Only one photo of a soldier holding one in each hand....in a fist...so you couldn't actually SEE the locusts.

-Julie

That is stramge.

A neighbor sent this link (photos of the plague locust): http://www.szabgab.com/locust.html

-Julie

At least they are pretty.

Thanks for sending that.

trois

This message was edited Nov 26, 2004 6:32 AM

Yep, I thought the same thing "Wow what pretty locusts!" LOL And great photos of them too...wish I knew who took those so I could send a compliment. Wouldn't have wanted to be so close to those swarms to take those shots...not without a full beekeepers outfit LOL

-Julie

When I was a young G. I. in Morocco back in '58-'59, we had locust "plagues," too. It looked like a sandstorm was coming in and was very impressive. They were everywhere! They came into the mess hall, barracks, even surgery rooms. We had cricket infestations and those were even worse. Didn't experience a frog plague though untill 1977 in California. Maybe not Biblical proportion plagues but, memorable nonetheless.

John

I want a frog plague, if I gotta have a plague.

Aren't the Snow Birds enough of a plague?

:b

LOL!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-11-21-israel-locusts_x.htm

Be careful what you wish for. According to this article prolonged rain increases the size of their swarms and warm weather promotes early breeding.

Yeah PvillePlanter, I was only kidding. We have far far too many warm sunny lovely days here to honestly be wishing for a locust visit. Yesterday and today were/are yet again bright cheerful sunny days. Only one day of rain on Friday and 2 (or was it three?) days of sun before that. I think the locusts are having a pretty easy time of it. They are pretty though ;-) (at a distance!....that link shows a pretty close close-up ;-) of those swarms....must've been a brave or stupid person to get so close to them. *shivers*).

-Julie

We had a cricket "plague" in the Austin area a few years ago. They were everywhere.....you had to walk on them to get down the sidewalk. I raked more cricket bodies that year than I did fallen leaves.

That sounds disgusting! Blech!!!!!!! I think I'd have stayed indoors if going out meant crunching over live crickets! How long did that last?

About 4 days longer than I had groceries for LOL. It was about 3 weeks total. Then another couple of days sweeping up all of the dead bodies. They made for some interesting mulch that year.

ROTFLMAO interesting mulch indeed :-D

whatcha doin up so late anyway Pville? It's after 1 in the morning there isn't it?

Of course, I'm not one to talk seeing as that's about my normal bedtime LOL

We experienced the cricket plague in Pecos, Texas. We had checked in to the best Motel there and noticed a lot of crickets. About 5 AM, just as we were waking up there was a knock on the door, then it opened and a crew with large vacuum cleaners came into the room and started to vacuum up the crickets while we watched from the bed. There were several hundred of them all over the floor in our room. One of the men then told us the place had been overran about midnight and they had been working all night to clear the inside of the motel, then he hurried away to other rooms. They said that the crickets had piled up outside and when someone opened a door the cricket bodies were so thick they prevented the door from closing and they poured in. It was very crunchy later in the morning after we checked out. None of the crickets crawled on us while we slept.

Oh dis-gust-ing! Thanks Trois....now I'm gonna have a nightmare about swarming crickets in the bed. Ugh!

Hey now....those crickets are just as purdy as your red locusts! ;-)

Pretty perhaps. Inundating my sleeping quarters....NO WAY! *shivers running up and down my spine* YUCK!

They are very good fish bait also, they just happen to swarm in places without water or fish.

Ewwwwwww!