If you live in one of the 15 (un)fortunate states in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, along with the District of Columbia, you no doubt have been aware of Magicicada cassinii, better known as the cicada.
Although every year a few of these insects emerge from the ground in the eastern United States, it’s their once every 17 years outing that gets all the buzz. And I mean that literally, because their frantic mating hum can reach a deafening 100 decibels – that’s in the range of a gas mower or passing motorcycle.
But a professional baby and family photographer in Arlington, VA (Oxana Ware) was so inspired by her children’s fascination with the little critters that she began snapping pictures. But she was disappointed in the results because they looked like the ones everyone else was taking.
Then she noticed that her 4 y/o son, Ben, loved having the cicadas climb the ladder on his firetruck – and the lightbulb clicked on. Why not anthropomorphize the little guys, and have them doing human things?
Well, she succeeded beyond her wildest dreams, so let’s enjoy some.
(I decided to group different ones together in slideshows to create a little story to go along with their posing.)
Let’s Get Married
If you’re a cicada, and you only show up every 17 years, and have only a couple weeks to molt, mate and die – you best get busy and find a partner. Of course they want to make it legal, but with a major time-constraint, heading to Las Vegas for a quickie wedding made perfect sense.
They were even able to get in a little gambling, and enjoyed celebrated their wedding by disco dancing with John Travolta to the cicada’s national anthem “Staying Alive!”
COVID Vaccine
And what better way to ensure staying alive than getting their COVID vaccine ASAP?
Happy Birthday
And since cicadas are card-carrying YOLO members (You Only Live Once) – they know how to throw a great Birthday Party!
Activities of Daily Living
But that doesn’t mean they can ignore those ADLs (Activities of Daily Living). Some are pure drudgery, like doing the laundry (they must have know TC in a previous life). But there was also fun stuff – like fishing, graduating, forming a band and even some traveling – not only on their Harley, but also joining the jet set, now that flying is OK.
Olympics
When they learned that this was an Olympic year, they didn’t want to be left out of the fun. They enjoyed archery, pole vaulting, table tennis, the uneven parallel bars and weightlifting.
Mount Everest
Some of the braver, heartier cicadas decided they’d follow in Edmund Hillary’s footsteps by taking George “Because It’s There” Mallory’s advice and climb Mount Everest.
They had forgone hiring Sherpas, because they doubted they would be able to speak Cicadan – which turned out to be a big mistake when a major snowstorm hit. But one proud cicada made it to the top to plant the flag!
Fourth of July
And they are looking forward to celebrating our Fourth of July by enjoying a few brewskis at a barbecue, relaxing at the beach and of course, taking in the fireworks over our Capitol.
Oxana Ware’s Website:
http://www.oxanaware.com/x-brood-adventures
9 Responses to “Friday Fun – Cicadas Make Themselves Right At Home”
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They seem to be very smart little cookies. At 17 years a pop, I figure it’sll be 68 years before they get a year with a Summer Olympics again, so they’d best not let this one go to wasr. They might hit a Winter Olympics in 34 years, but they don’t come out in the winter. Pity.
I can happliy joke about them because here in the Rockies we don’t get them … yet … if climate change isn’t reined in, we probably will, but not in my lifetime (maybe not in any human’s lifetime.) What we have here – annually – is Miller moths. At least they don’t make noise.
Thanks as always, Nameless, for a delightful share.
Wow, very cool. My cat, Bugsy(who loves the critters,hence his name) hasn’t found them here in Ohio yet. But he assures me he is on the look out for ’em. I did experience “cicada fest”in years gone by. I recall T-shirts celebrating them, tho I didn’t buy one.Take care,all.
Wow…this is really awesome, Nameless.
Love the way these cicadas are shown enjoying life in so many ways.
I heard of these creatures a couple months ago on the Nightly news. As far as I know, we’ve never had any issues of them here in California. I hope it stays that way too. Seems like they’re more annoying than harmful to gardens. My understanding is that when the female lays her eggs on the trees is when it can be harmful to the young trees.
Another issue the news way mentioning was that many people eat cicadas, because they’re high in protein. I think I’ll get my protein another way, thank you.
Thanks Nameless
Just as a footnote: NO cicadas were harmed in the taking of the photos. In fact Oxana would warm them in her hands after shoot before she released them back into the wild.
And what a story they’d have to tell the other cicadas! Do you suppose they have been believed?
Had the cicadas hatched a year earlier, Oxana would have been hired by the former guy for her ability to turn noisy critters into an adorable photo-op. He could have done with some of her brilliant ideas.
Thanks for putting these gif’s of Oxana’s many talented ideas together in a very enjoyable text, Nameless.
Tres cool!
I’ve heard a very occasional one here, on the west coast of central Fl., but nothing like I used to hear in N.J. Still they were not present in N.J. in the massive numbers they are in the “lucky” distress.
Nameless, this was fun, thanks.
P,S.” My younger son has had a cicada tattoo running the full length of a thigh, for years. He’s in Va., and has not encountered many.
I hear tell that, if one works for Disney, Disney keeps a phtographic record of all one’s tattoos – so, in case they want to move one to a different character, they can figure out how to cover them up.
Thanks Nameless–her creative imagination brought me many smiles.