What's the buzz? Ijams hosts first ever Cicada-A-Raid-A

Cidada-A-Raiders! Photo by Allison von Gruenigen

 Teaching urban children (and their parents) about the wonders of nature is one of the cornerstones of our nature center. It's a cornerstone laid down over 70 years ago by H.P. and Alice Ijams while raising their four daughters on the site.

Raider holding an exuvium, the last
shed exoskeleton of a cicada larva.
Photo by Allison von Gruenigen

So here's the buzz: Summer is a time of insects—large, loud, loquacious insects. To celebrate the season, Ijams recently hosted a Cicada-A-Raid-A! 

We learned about the large green insects of summer in the order Hemiptera and about the five species that call Ijams home: swamp, Robinson's, scissor-grinder, lyric and Linne's cicada. They can be heard at different times of the day from early July to Labor Day buzzing from the treetops.

It's the males that produce the pulsating buzzy songs and although the adjective loquacious suggests a vocalization, the buzz is actually created by rapidly popping the sides of their abdomens in and out, thus creating a clicking sound.

Four of the five cicada species found at Ijams

After enjoying a short talk refreshed by cicada cookies and cicada juice on the back terrace (with a swamp cicada serenading us overhead) we explored the Homesite listening for other species, descendants of the cicadas the Ijams daughters heard many decades ago.  

Such fun! A buzzing good time. 

- Stephen Lyn Bales