Cicada Time

I’ve been hearing annual cicadas in the hot late afternoon and evenings recently in my neighborhood. There are not a lot of them…but they are loud. Sometimes there seem to be conversations between several insects rather than a burr of almost continuous sound from a lot of them. I haven’t seen very many and it seems like they are not as numerous here in Missouri as they were where I lived in Maryland.

Last weekend when I was cutting the grass at the edges of flower beds and around trees, I noticed a cicada on a day lily leaf; it wasn’t singing and I remembered that sometimes the insects are sedentary when it is cooler and early in the day. It was still there with I came back with my phone to take pictures.

I am not spraying my yard with any chemicals so I hope the cicadas lay eggs here and my yard will host more cicadas in the coming years. They are one of the insects I associate with the summers of my childhood!