Have you heard the cicadas this summer?

**Roscoe** · 17-01-2022, 04:12 PM

I live in Auckland and we hear the cicadas at this time every summer now that the temperature has warmed up. But this year they have not made an appearance and I wonder why?

Are the cicadas making a noise at your place?

I just wonder why they are absent. Does anyone have any clues?

**dugimodo** · 17-01-2022, 04:24 PM

I can hear some out my window. They stay underground for a few years as nymphs, dunno if that explains anything.

**Zippity** · 17-01-2022, 04:40 PM

From Google:

Cicadas have been distinctly missing from summer so far in 2021, but thankfully their disappearance is due to a natural process, which enthusiasts say is completely normal. ... Most people are unaware that cicadas actually spend most of their life underground, only coming above ground when it's time to mate.

**R2x1** · 17-01-2022, 05:14 PM

Don't need no flamin' cicadas, tinnitus does the trick quite adequately for me.

**kenj** · 17-01-2022, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by Zippity

From Google:

Most people are unaware that cicadas actually spend most of their life underground, only coming above ground when it's time to mate.

Quite a few people do the same

Ken.

**zqwerty** · 17-01-2022, 05:20 PM

Yes some species come out only on Prime number years so predators have little chance of synchronizing their breeding cycle to the cicadas. I think the phenomena is particularly spectacular on the east coast of America in some locations. Millions appear after 17 or is it 19 years, make a lot of noise then disappear after a few days and are not seen again for another 17 or 19 years, perhaps there is an 11 year cycle group as well, can't remember.

**allblack** · 17-01-2022, 05:39 PM

I listened to someone claining to have expert knowledge on the subject saying it was the heat/dry that has stopped them coming out.

Apparently the burrows or whatever they're called have dried up and they can't eascape to mate and make noise.

**piroska** · 17-01-2022, 05:47 PM

They're late is all....and as far as I am concerned they can stay buried.

**kenj** · 17-01-2022, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by Zippity

From Google:

Cicadas have been distinctly missing from summer so far in 2021, but thankfully their disappearance is due to a natural process, which enthusiasts say is completely normal. ... Most people are unaware that cicadas actually spend most of their life underground, only coming above ground when it's time to mate.

+1

Ken