Cicadas

[danb]

What this f%^k is up with the Cicada's singing tonight 2am in the morning... What a bloody racket they are making :angry2: trying to sleep.

[kro]

You want noise, try sleeping through the rain we had this morning...... but speaking of cicadas, the loudest cicada chorus was heard by me last Monday in the carpark of the Hira forest in Nelson, it was almost deafening.

Speaking of which I have decided to not go to the laid back today, in favour of exploring this forest more. I will endeavour to take pictures of the days trekking.

[Sniper]

And there is nothing bar setting the trees on fire that will shut the little arseholes up

[dawnrazor]

And there is nothing bar setting the trees on fire that will shut the little arseholes up

not sure about that, they reckon the little critters have been around since before the dinosaurs!

[danb]

not sure about that, they reckon the little critters have been around since before the dinosaurs!


Yea well they look like it!

Rain? - Was a clear sky and the moon was out - perhaps that had something to do with it. :blink:

[Uncle B]

I couldn't imagine summer without the little buggers. To me cicada's are summer.......just wish the weather would realise this.

[danb]

They are also much of interest of visitors from Asian countries and others where I don’t think they have them from what they have told me.

[Sniper]

Nah, Ive proved that setting a tree on fire shuts them up.

[Blackbird]

Ummm.... sure they're cicadas??? I thought they stopped at sundown and those little black crickets took over the nightshift. Sound pretty similar:ride:

[Goblin]

Rain? - Was a clear sky and the moon was out - perhaps that had something to do with it. :blink:
That'd be it. Full moon brings out all sorts:blink: I could hear bellbirds chiming at 2am this morning.

[Beemer]

Arne (one half of et-wa) said in the States you can get imitation cicadas! People apparently take them on camping trips! He said they are pretty hard to tell from the real thing, apart from the fact the pitch never changes.

We have pukeko by our pond and when they start screeching at 3am, you feel like throttling them!

And the wet/cloudy weather intensifies the boom from the bird scarers down the road. Who said living in the country was quiet?

[onearmedbandit]

They are also much of interest of visitors from Asian countries and others where I don’t think they have them from what they have told me.


They certainly have them in Japan, last time I was over there in Okinawa the noise of them was intense.

[cowpoos]

they are at the height of the breeding mating season...and as with alot of insects warmth has alot to do with there activity...

[Colapop]

They're only alive for about 2 months or so. No big deal. It's the f*cking boy racers that f*ck around @ 2am that make me want to get my shotgun out!:ar15: :ar15: :ar15: And they're around all year long. Cicadas are nothing compared to them.

[Skyryder]

Cicardas chirping means warm weather. Now if you want an annoying noise just think frogs. Ausie frogs toads or whatever. They go on all night.

Skyryder

[NotaGoth]

I don't find cicadas annoying as yet. Hell any that manage to get into the house are quickly gobbled down by my little kitten.


Whats worse.... Crickets.... Try having one sneak inside somehow.. The fun is finding the stupid thing.. oh and them bugs that make that clicking sound. Drives me absolutely bonkers! :mad:

[marty]

They are also much of interest of visitors from Asian countries and others where I don’t think they have them from what they have told me.

only cause they sound like they'd taste yummy

[Ixion]

I love the sound of cicadas. And crickets.

[Colapop]

Crickets are bloody annoying. All that "HOWZAAATTT??!!????" yelling and the butt slapping - it aint right I tells ya!

[skidMark]

cicadas drive me crazy i hate them .....especially when they fly in your helmet and start chirping on your face (this may have happened recently ... thus why i now keep my visor closed at all times lol (and bumble bees arg )

[myvice]

They're only alive for about 2 months or so. No big deal. It's the f*cking boy racers that f*ck around @ 2am that make me want to get my shotgun out!:ar15: :ar15: :ar15: And they're around all year long. Cicadas are nothing compared to them.
Our local boy racer now only plays in the day time as his windows some how broke one night, must have been the G forces from the donut...
Cicadas are ok, better than howler monkeys...

[Hitcher]

Cicadas? Strike One!

[Joni]

I remember when I came to New Zealand, I had never seen/heard one before.... I did not know what the hell they were and why they were making such a noise during the day.

Hehe, now I love the sound of cicadas.

[Jackrat]

Yea well they look like it!

Rain? - Was a clear sky and the moon was out - perhaps that had something to do with it. :blink:

That had everything to do with it.
They hatch at night,the moon triggers it an the first thing they do is start advertising for a mate.
Neat aye!!

[danb]

Ok then - When do they sleep then - Surely they can’t sing non stop for 2 days.

[James Deuce]

http://collections2.eeb.uconn.edu/collections/cicadacentral/NZ/index.html
Cicadas are cool. There's heaps of varieties, including MANY Asian ones.

This link (http://collections2.eeb.uconn.edu/collections/cicadacentral/sp_pages/NZ_species/A_zealandica.html) describes the ones we have round the Western Hutt hills.

There's more than 40 species in NZ, and where I lived in Auckland as a child we had mostly small grey coloured ones. The zealandicae are HUGE by comparison.

I grew up with that unceasing cacophany, as the cycles of different species must overlap in Auckland. The zealandicae must have a 10 year cycle as we moved in to our house over the '95-'96 Summer and even though they are back with a vengeance, they were way more numerous then than they are this year.

We'll see what happens next year.

[idb]

Cicadas? Strike One!
They sound a bit like a squeaky disc brake on Honda ST............

[Ixion]

Blurdy hell. Y'mean there's lotsa different types of the little buggers. I never knew that, I thought they was just cicadas, full stop. Learn something new every day.

[Colapop]

Anyone ever seen one hatch? All I've seen is the cases they leave behind.

[Ixion]

I've seen them on the stalk or whatever, beside the empty case - seem to be sort of drying them selves out, then they flutter their wings a bit, then take off. Never seen one actually emerging.

[Goblin]

:laugh: My four year old came in the other day with a cicada wing, telling us "Look mum....a indicator wing!":killingme

[danb]

:laugh: My four year old came in the other day with a cicada wing, telling us "Look mum....a indicator wing!":killingme

WTF - LOL :rofl:

[Motu]

We don't seem to have many here in Huntly,although we have an over abundance of every other bug...but going past the power station yesterday the noise was deafening.Soil types maybe,they seem to be around pines too.

On Waiheke Island where we had a line of pines down the back at the farm boundry the cicada's were prolific.Our house was clad in cedar and in summer the walls facing the sun were totaly black with cicadas,powerpoles too.Cases everywhere and my kids used to fill jars with them.Cyclic too as Jim2 says,some years we had much more than others.

Next the cricket season starts - we have little ones flying around in the house at the moment,in a month or so they will be full grown and making nights hell.And then the mossi's start bitting in ernest.

[idb]

:laugh: My four year old came in the other day with a cicada wing, telling us "Look mum....a indicator wing!":killingme
Jeez Goblin.
If that avatar is a picture of you I assume that you're still breast-feeding....the whole town!

[Swoop]

Anyone ever seen one hatch? All I've seen is the cases they leave behind.
I was digging spuds out of the veggie garden on the weekend and found one underneath the soil surface still inside the casing. Alive and wriggling. Put it back under the surface so it could "do its thing". Guess I like cicadas eh?

Cricket. Yup, absolutely no need for it. 5 days to get a bloody DRAW ffs!:moon:

[Blind spot]

Best way to get to sleep my friend is to have a quick one off the wrist
you will then be asleep in a minute

[ManDownUnder]

Next the cricket season starts - we have little ones flying around in the house at the moment,in a month or so they will be full grown and making nights hell.And then the mossi's start bitting in ernest.

Check out the Bug Zappers you can buy. a UV light surrounded by two (close but separate) rings of fine "chicken wire". 500VDC across the 2 meshes.

Electroblitz (http://www.microlene.co.nz/brand_list.asp) are good (the one at the bottom of that page is for indoor use - there is an outdoor one available too...).

Snap crackle and pop will keep you happy for days. They're good for all sorts of bugs, flys included. Weasel has mine at the mo and reports it's going well.

You leave it going each night, hang it in a tree or up high so they can see it for miles. Leave it there for a whole breeding cycle (plus a bit) and watch them dissappear into puffs of smoke.

It's not too fussy about what it kills though, so if you are a fan of moths or other bugs this might not be the solution for you.

MDU

[ManDownUnder]

Best way to get to sleep my friend is to have a quick one off the wrist
you will then be asleep in a minute

Nu uh... that'd be someone else's wrist...

but yea - then off to sleep in a min!
MDU

[Colapop]

Either way you don't have to "cuddle and talk" to it afterwards!

[Wolf]

Cicardas chirping means warm weather. Now if you want an annoying noise just think frogs. Ausie frogs toads or whatever. They go on all night.

Skyryder
Try a terrified frog!

Got jolted out of bed one night when I was a kid by an inhuman screaming that would make a banshee give up the game - loud, piercing and fucking horrifying. And it went on and on and on. Dad and mum got up too and we all went to investigate, found a terrified cat backing down our veranda with its eyes fixated on the shrieking frog it had caught.

Great defense mechanism!

[Colapop]

Hahaha!! At least the unholy laughing that I heard, when I was a kid, was from a possum. Mum gave me the vacuum cleaner pipe so I could feel safe. Woulda felt safer with the shotgun though!

[Swoop]

Best way to get to sleep my friend is to have a quick one off the wrist
you will then be asleep in a minute
Is this a suzuki riders thing?:rofl:

[Big Dave]

Never move to Sydney then - the cicadas here are about half the size, half as noisy and about half as many as my home town.

[Wolf]

Hahaha!! At least the unholy laughing that I heard, when I was a kid, was from a possum. Mum gave me the vacuum cleaner pipe so I could feel safe. Woulda felt safer with the shotgun though!
I heard that maniacal laughter one night when I was hitchihiking home - tired, literally asleep on my feet, passed a tree and was jolted out of my torpor by this fiendish cackle that sounded like the Joker on Nitrous Oxide.

I woke up on the way back down! I realised what it was instantly (well, the instant I woke up after bloody-near achieving orbital velocity) because I had been told that possums do a good maniacal laugh. The warning hadn't prepared me for the reality, though!

[Grahameeboy]

cicadas drive me crazy i hate them .....especially when they fly in your helmet and start chirping on your face (this may have happened recently ... thus why i now keep my visor closed at all times lol (and bumble bees arg )

Guess that is when they fly by and pop in eh?