Cicadas!
June 20, 2007 Post a Comment
I don’t know about you, but I have yet to see a cicada in Chicago.
I’ve been as far west, and as far north as Rogers Park as Oak Park, and neither Park has squat for cicadas. Oak Brook is swarming, and Evanston seems to have a good share. The North Branch Trail is insane! It seems there have been hundreds in the northern and western suburbs.
Check out the Chicago Tribune’s Interactive Cicada Map.
Why, you ask, have I not seen any in Chicago? I’m sure there are some as I obviously have not been to every corner of the city, but it seems there are far more in the suburbs. My theory, first and foremost, is that the density is much higher here, and no matter how many new trees Daley has helped plant (and I commend him for it), there are still not as many as there are in the burbs for nymphs to eat the tasty, juicy roots of.
Construction seems to be the buzzword, as well as perhaps pesticides. With all the construction I’ve seen over the past few years I don’t doubt that’s a major contribution everywhere.
Part of the 17-year cicada cycle. From left to right: a cicada shedding its shell, full emergence, two cicadas mating.
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Guest blog by Emily Lake.
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