some cicada shots from last night here in the rain forest...

[Gato Moteado]

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Very nice

[Deuxcents]

2. Is it molting or eating something?

[Gato Moteado]

3. it just moulted its nymph skin....

....and it's drying out

[Deuxcents]

6. Thanks for that..I've never seen one before and didn't know they molted..that was a guess!

[Gato Moteado]

9. you haven't seen a cicada? where do you live?

down here in CR, as you can imagine, we have an incredible diversity of them, but even when growing up in Chicago they were everywhere, especially when the 17 year cicadas would emerge.

[Deuxcents]

13. I'm in south Florida..we have all kinds of things here but never seen a cicada. All I know is they're like a plague

And come out of their nests every so many years. I should look it up..

[Gato Moteado]

15. well, they come out every year but there are some species that come out much less frequently.....

....like every 11 or 14 or 17 years. in Chicago we had the 17 year variety, and, yes, when they come out it's like a biblical plague. they don't live very long once they transform to their adult stage. also, the birds get many of them.

[Gato Moteado]

16. where in S.F. are you? I lived in cutler ridge (now cutler bay) from 1990 until hurricane Andrew......

....then moved up to north dade near Joe Robbie stadium. then I moved to Austin in 1994.

[Deuxcents]

17. I'm originally from Miami but live on the Gulf side now.

I have cousins that lived down near Cultler in Perrine but Andrew took their homes and they moved up north Florida. My son moved from Miami about 12 years ago because of the population growth n crime and moved just south of Austin. Got a few acres of elbow room but very worried about him last month with the floods. G kids all grown and now near Homestead. My sister lives near Robbie Stadium in Hollywood…family spread out all over down here and more family in Texas..Harris county and close to Austin. How do you like the difference from down here to Austin?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Beautiful work, dear Gato!

Looks like it’s molting. Fascinating photos!

[Gato Moteado]

5. I get a lucky shot every now and then

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. You mean all the time!

Your work is amazing all the time!

[Gato Moteado]

10. hahahaha.....thanks peg!

[usonian]

8. Are you going to wait 17 years for the next hatch?

Asking for a friend.

[Gato Moteado]

11. down here you only have to wait about 17 minutes for the next hatch

[usonian]

12. Just kidding. There's more than one brood.

Are they the mimi-buzzsaw variety?

[Gato Moteado]

14. hahahaha.....that's what they sound like.....

....there are about the same size as the annual ones in the US, but we have some which are much smaller (and noisier) and some that are a lot bigger.

I was in chicago last summer and witnessed the 17 year brood.

[valleyrogue]

18. Beautiful shots.

This might sound crazy, but I have never seen a cicada in real life. I live out in Oregon, and we don't have them to the extent other parts of the country do. They are not common out here.