On 8/25/2011 2:52 PM, John Sessoms wrote:
From: "Brian Walters"
On Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:52 -0500, "Walt Gilbert" <ldott...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi all,
Well, it's that time again. Every 13 years, or so, we're overrun with
these dudes. Up until the past few weeks, I thought my area had
somehow
been spared their incessant, shrill drone (is that a contradiction in
terms?). But, sure enough, the sound began, and I started finding
their
shells stuck to the trees, fence posts, lawn furniture, etc.
I caught this one alive, making his way up a support beam in the garage
one night as I was having a lovely beverage. I named him "Coolio" --
because I was drunk.
Again, this was shot with my K 50/1.4 on the K-x with a reversing ring.
ISO 100, f/11, 1/180 with flash.
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/walt_gilbert/6078219457/
I figured I had to get a shot now, since I won't get a chance again for
13 years. Comments welcome as always.
Only every 13 years? That's a pity.
Down here it wouldn't be summer without the annual sounds of cicadas
'singing'.
That's a good shot - the shallow depth of field with the sharp focus on
the head and eyes works well.
Looking it up, Cicadas generally have a 2-4 year cycle except in North
America where there are overlapping 13 & 17 year "broods" such that
almost every summer there are cicadas emerging somewhere in the US.
The range of the 13 & 17 year cicadas seems to be *mostly* in states
bordering the Ohio & Mississippi river systems and mainly south &
east. Each "brood" seems to have its own geographic territory.
As it happens, I live in Kentucky -- right at the confluence of the
Mississippi and Ohio.
Where I live in NC is in an area where several broods overlap. We get
different broods for 2-3 years at at time. We're within the current
Brood XIX (13 year) map, but also the Brood II (17 year) map for 2013.
We're an outlier for Brood VI (17 year) which mostly occurs in the
mountains of NC, SC & GA due next in 2017; also for Broods IX & X
(both 17 year) due again in 2020 & 2021 and Brood XIV (17 year) due
again in 2025.
So we have cicadas somewhere around here about every 2-4 years; 2000,
2003, 2004, 2008, 2011 ... 2013, 2017, 2020, 2021 & 2025. The largest
of the 17-year broods is Brood X [2004] due again in 2021, and the
largest of the 13 year broods is Brood XIX [2011] that's due again in
2024.
And in the meantime while we're waiting on cicada cycles, there's the
upcoming great solar eclipse of Aug 21, 2017. The path of totality
will sweep across the US from Oregon to South Carolina [totality will
begin offshore in the Pacific Ocean about 900 miles south of Amila
Island in the Aleutians and extend offshore into the Atlantic Ocean to
just south-west of Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa].
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html
Lots of interesting info there, John. Now I have a cool solar eclipse
to look forward to in a few years. Hopefully, they'll have outpatient
retina replacement surgery by then.
-- Walt
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