Cicadas? I know they are "singing" in my area right now! LOUD!

Dani

They are Cicadas! I've got WAY MORE than five spent shells hanging on the foilage of my daylilies! They bring no harm.
Nancy

Aw, the sweet sounds of summer. Cicadas are one of my favorite things about summer. My niece had leotards on the other day and was putting cicadas all up and down them. She looked like a walking bugmobile:)

Vickie

I love the sound of Cicadas.

I never heard any sweet sounds. All I know is the shells are empty. If they are Cicadas why are shells there?

They molt. They leave their husks behind and fly away.

The noise they make is a buzzing noise. It isn't sweet, it just means summer to me.

My mom liked to hang them on her clothes too and walk over to my kids as if nothing is there. So, now I do it too. It's really pretty neat how their shells are so intact.

Ick! I hate cicadas! Just the idea of touching them makes me shudder! I've actually had them chase me. And how loud they are drives me nuts.

What I think is weird is that I saw 6 dead cicadas laying all together in an empty space in my garden today. Not the shells, but actual cicadas. I've seen several cicada killer wasps around, but I wouldn't think they'd leave dead cicadas just laying around. I thought they took them to their young for food???

Deanna

gee, I have no idea what kind of "BUG" you talking about here, maybe I have seen some and not know what it is, but sounds like some thing I really don't want around me.

Jean

I guess it is a cicadas because what everyone is describing sounds like what I have. I think they are gross and for some reason are everywhere this year. They look like ghost bugs due to shell being so light brown. Like gardenfanatic, I found 3 shell all in one are in between a daylilly. I never saw this many before.

Yes, they are cicadas. A few years ago, my ex and I went to Maryland to visit his sister. That was when they had the massive invasion of cicadas, and I do mean invasion. They were everywhere, buzzing so loudly I couldn't stand to be outside for long. They covered the trees, hundreds or thousands were flying around in the air. It was terrible. They were the cicada type what were black with the orange eyes. My ex's father was with us, and decided he was going to take one home with him back to Romania. I don't know if they have any over there, but he was certainly intrigued by them. Anyone from Maryland, or the east coast, remember the cicada invasion?

Karen

Heheh. "A walking bugmobile." A kid after my own heart.
Renee

That's how invasive species get going.

If I remember correctly, these are the ones that spend 17 years in the ground and finally come out to breed and make more. A few years ago there were so many in Wy it made the highways slick. Around here we call them locusts. Our kitehawks love them.

I believe locusts and cicaydas are 2 different species. Cicaydas are here every year, locusts only every 7 years.

I took this picture of a live cicada in 2006 and still had it in my Flickr photos. Kind of ugly, really. I can understand that they would be a nuisance in mass quantities, but I love sitting outside listening to them during the normal annual molting. Vickie

Wikipedia has a short video of the molting process. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

I have one stuck on my house it's freaking me out should I knock it down? How do u remove these creepy shells

you don't .The cicadas molt when they are ready. If you were to try to remove the shell you would kill it. Oh and yes, cicadas are around every year but every 17 years there is a massive population explosion . for more info http://sciencenetlinks.com/science-news/science-updates/cicada-cycles/

Jean - you probably don't have them in Arizona. Most of them in Ohio are cyclical. They appear only infrequently - one group is on a 17 year cycle.

I stay in Texas not arizona...

I just have to live with this creepy big as bug on my house

So when this bug leaves the shell it's just gonna be stuck on my house

I live in Indio, CA and this year we have an invasion of them - holed up in the ground and then the empty shells everywhere on trees and even my wooden garden table. Have Terminix coming tomorrow and see what he can do; will keep you posted

d