Cicada Journals July 09, 2004 to July 13, 2004
07/09/04 - First Tibicen Canicularis of the Season Heard Today
July 9, 2004. I started hearing the calls of Tibicen canicularis in the trees in my neighborhood. It's time to really turn up the heat a bit to find signs of Cicada exuvia then target these areas at night.
07/10/04 - A Visit to Chelmsford High School - Chelmsford, MA.
1:30 PM - Spent approximately 4 hours searching a pine tree forest. Little to no undergrowth around the tree bases. Should be ideal for spotting exuvia. Unfortunately nothing. Not even hearing T. canicularis calling.
07/10/04 - An Evening Visit to Chelmsford High School - Chelmsford, MA.
7:30 pm - Decide to search a swampy area that I looked at back in June without much success. While I saw a lot of nymphs, they were of the dragonfly variety and I played host to swarms of mosquitos. Good thing I had my mosquito repellant. I also searched around the entire perimeter of a baseball field. Found 5 baseballs in the woods from foul balls during baseball games. Took the baseballs home. At least I came home with something.
07/11/04 - First Emergence Holes Found at Southwell Field - No. Chelmsford, MA.
Found signs of many emergence holes at Southwell Field today. Hearing T. canicularis on a daily basis. However am still unsuccessful in finding any signs of exuvia. Cicada emergence holes average between 3/8 and 1/2 inch in diameter and they are almost perfectly round. If you spot a hole with these dimensions, chances are it's a Cicada emergence hole.
07/12/04 - First Exuvium Found at Springs Brook Swimming Area - Bedford, MA.
7:45 am - Found my first nymph exuvia of the season here. Okanagana rimosa or canadensis. This is among one of Bedford's conservation areas. Has large old pine tree forests as well as deciduous trees. Bring the mosquito repellant!! This is the only exuvium I have found for this species, since the Okanagana species is "proto-periodical" this might be an off-year for finding them in abundance.
Note the prominent black stripes on the abdomen and back of this exuvium. This is indicative of the Okanagana species
07/13/04 - A More Thorough Search of Springs Brook Swimming Area - Bedford, MA.
With my luck in finding the Okanagana nymph shell yesterday. I decided to do a more in-depth search of the conservation area and search in areas I didn't search the previous day. Tried to see if I could hear any Okanagana calls as Okanagana have a tendancy to sing in aggregations of males much like Magicicada. Unfortunately no other signs of exuvia were discovered. Found a golfball though. There is a golf course that borders the conservation area.
Note: I have decided to skip ahead in order to play catch up. The season is getting on now so I will be discussing below only those times where my Cicada Hunts were successful or if I found other interesting creatures. All the places that I have visited to hunt for Cicadas along with a synopsis of the areas will be listed in "Places to Hunt Cicadas" on the left menu.
