Unfortunately, with the new lush growth of leaves in the canopy, many of the beautiful birds are reduced meerly to a flash through the treetops. Fortunately their songs still accompany any travelers to all locations within the Arboretum. For those of you who have developed a keen ear for the sounds of the woods, you may have noticed a new, not so beautiful sound echoing through the treetops lately… you know which song I mean… “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” The long drawn out “HISS” produced by the Cicada.
Cicadas are large insects, one of our largest in fact and belong to an order of insects known as the “True Bugs”…so yes, in this case it is correct to call them BUGS. Cicadas spend most of their lives beneath the soil, where they use their long thick “straw-like” mouth parts to feed on sap stored within the roots of trees. As summer rolls around, the mature nymphs will leave the soil and their focus changes from food to reproduction. These alien looking nymphs crawl out of the soil and onto the exposed bark of the tree from which they have been feeding for some time. Most of the species we have here in southern Quebec only spend a year or two in this stage whereas one New England species known as the “17-year Cicada” spends…you guessed it!…17 years as a Nymph!!!
Once they have climbed out of the soil the immature cicadas split their old skin and a shiny new insect emerges, one which looks very different from what it looked like in it’s youth! Look for the cast skins hanging from trees in your area too! The new cicada is now an adult and has a full compliment of 4 large membranous wings which will aid it in locating a mate. But courtship for these bugs is not that easy; first the males must put on a little concert in order to attract the attention of females in the area. This is accomplished by forcing air out of thier bodies at high speed, while at the same time using a special membrane in the body to resonate the air producing the particular call which is specific to each species…an impressive feat for a simple BUG isn’t it?
The shed skin of a Cicada, the last momento of it's former life beneath the soil. Notice the split down the middle of it's back, this is where the adult emerged some time ago (Photo: Chris Cloutier)
Have fun out there!
CC