I have just found a Green Grocer Cicada nymph (fully developed) awkwardly wandering around my backyard looking for somewhere to shed its shell. I cannot recall having ever recorded a Green Grocer outside of summer in our area (Sydney, inner-west to be precise), and April is very late in general for a cicada to be emerging isn’t it? Can anyone suggest why it might have decided now was the right moment to look for a mate?
Apologies to those who believe this is an inappropriate forum to be raising this, but given birders tend to be much more aware of the natural environment than others I know I felt some might have something to share on the topic.
Cheers, Ashwin ===============================
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I heard cicadas making a racket last weekend in Tahlee (mid north coast, NSW) and remarked to my bushwalking friends that I thought it a bit late in the year. It’s been a very quiet year for cicadas at my place this summer. Paul Osborn Bulahdelah, NSW
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I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but I heard cicadas singing intermittently in Kur-ring-gai NP (I think) a couple of weekends ago. I’m from Melbourne, so I assumed it was normal for Sydney.
Peter Shute
Sent from my iPad
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Hi Allan, I heard cicadas this week in Bronte which I thought was unusual. They were Black Prince tom thumbs. I usually get excited in late August / September when I first hear them as it means summer is coming to Sydney (generally, the tom thumbs come out first in the season before their bigger cousins). Cheers, Charles Hunter
________________________________ Cc: birding-aus Sent: Saturday, 13 April 2013 3:30 PM
Hi Ashwin,
Can’t answer all your questions directly, but I think you questions are pertinent to birds, since cicadas are an important food source for some migratory species (Dollarbirds for instance) and insects are after all a big part of the reason birds migrate.
In extension to that I’m wondering if it might be respective extensions to arrival and departure dates of migrant birds, as dictated by insect availability, that may be some of the key indicators of climate change at work in temperate regions.
Interesting to know if cicadas in the tropics have extended breeding periods over temperate species otherwise climate change may not have an effect here?
Just this week I heard a cicada starting to sing in the Gunnedah area and thought how unusual it was. Has anyone else had a similar experience lately or are we the only two?
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
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Multiple cicadas Charles, that sounds very interesting.
I didn’t get chance to check out my species, but it did sound like one of the smaller species and not as large as Ashwin’s Green Grocer.
I’ve cc’d Lindsay Popple in to see if he can shed any light on whether what we’re seeing is out of the realms of normality for cicadas in our neck of the woods.
Allan
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Hi Ashwin,
Can’t answer all your questions directly, but I think you questions are pertinent to birds, since cicadas are an important food source for some migratory species (Dollarbirds for instance) and insects are after all a big part of the reason birds migrate.
In extension to that I’m wondering if it might be respective extensions to arrival and departure dates of migrant birds, as dictated by insect availability, that may be some of the key indicators of climate change at work in temperate regions.
Interesting to know if cicadas in the tropics have extended breeding periods over temperate species otherwise climate change may not have an effect here?
Just this week I heard a cicada starting to sing in the Gunnedah area and thought how unusual it was. Has anyone else had a similar experience lately or are we the only two?
Allan Richardson Morisset NSW
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