Cicada Journals May 30th to May 31st 2007 - Brood XIII

05/30/07 - Arrived In Indiana - Finally!!

Well I'm finally here in the mid-west for my Brood XIII Magicicada distribution mapping. I'm here helping out the folks at UC Storrs Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I have decided to take it upon myself to try to find the eastern-most edge of Brood XIII's distribution range. Older records would seem to indicate that Brood XIII's range stretches along the southern border of Indiana and Michigan as far east as Sturgis, MI.

It would seem that this article has some folks up-in-arms about whether or not there are Brood XIII Magicicadas in Southern Michigan. Hopefully I will have some luck and find some. I'll let you know tomorrow. Stay posted.

However, I'm just too beat to look now. I left my place at 6:00 am today and I finally stopped in Howe, Indiana at a Holiday Inn Express right off of the Route 80/90 Toll Road just south of Sturgis, MI. It is 8:00 pm!

05/31/07 - There Are No Brood XIII Magicicadas In Southern Michigan!!

Well, it looks like Thomas Moore was right. I woke up this morning at 6:30 am with every intention of proving him wrong. I mean surely there has to be at least a small patch of Brood XIII magicicadas in Southern Michigan right? Alas that's a big fat NO! people. After searching high and low all along Michigan's Southern Route 12 heading west towards Illinois, I was unsuccessful in finding a single sign of Brood XIII in Michigan. I mean, no mud chimneys, no exuvia, no nymphs, no calling NOTHING!!

Starting in Southeastern Michigan and working my way west along Route 12, below is a breakdown of where Brood XIII Magicicadas AREN'T:

Sturgis
Klinger Lake, White Pigeon
Vandalia
Cassopolis
Edwardsburg
Niles
Galien
New Buffalo
New Troy
Sawyer
Harbert

I visited several cemeteries and nature preserves without any luck of finding anything in Michigan. I have to continue on west so I cannot spend another day searching southern Michigan. Maybe my luck will change tomorrow as I head west in Indiana.