Cicadastorm Aftermath

Last weekend we went to Mordor to celebrate Father’s Day with the Barndottirs.  Since my mobility was returning surprisingly fast, I was cane free and pain free by Saturday, I took some leisurely laps around the perimeter of the yard with its more than a quarter mile per circuit.  Yes I carried a cane but it was more for security on uneven ground than supporting my weight.  I had my phone and took some admittedly inferior pictures to show you.

The absence of cicadas was notable.  The stench of gazillions of decaying carcasses was diminishing and the cacophony was gone, but the evidence was all around.  This juvenile oak tree was clearly a favorite burrowing place for the mating cicadas, fortunately the damage was probably not lethal to the tree.

I came across this patch of ground tunnels visible enough to photograph.  Presumably every square foot of the middle Atlantic is riddled with pockmarks like these.  If this is true, then our property housed around four million of the critters.

Now we just wait another 17 years for the re-emergence of the next generation that is now maturing underground.