Cicada Aftermath
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The Brood X adult cicadas are gone; the outdoors is quiet in comparison to the way it was a month ago. The trees are showing the impact of the large numbers of cicadas that emerged this year…but not all the trees were impacted the same. Our oak seems to have the most small-stem breakage from the cicada eggs deposited under the bark…the larvae hatching and dropping to the ground. The stems split and the leaves past the split die. The condition is called ‘flagging.’
Some of the leaves are already falling off the tree; they’ll be mulched into the yard the next time we mow.
There are other insects that enjoy our oak. I noticed that some of the leaves on the ground have holes in them. Without the cicadas, the leaves probably would have stayed green and on the tree for the rest of the summer.
The sycamore is impacted to a lesser degree.
It appears from the yard that the small branches are falling off more quickly than the oak’s.
I took some zoomed pictures of the sycamore branches. The color and shapes appeal to me.
Soon the aftermath of the Brood X will all be underground….the larvae beginning their 17 year journey.
There was a story in the news of some research into the blue jay and grackle die off recently….looking at whether the fungus that seemed more prevalent in the cicadas this year might have impacted the juvenile birds that ate them. The die off occurred in the same areas where Brood X emerged.
