Cicadas!!

[mtnbkr]

It is getting kind of gross.

It'll get worse.  Wait till they all die and the smell arrives.

Chris

[red450]

Wasn't there a "hatching" of them around 2001 or 2002?  One of those years they hatched in Southern Indiana while I was backpacking.  They're much, much louder than the normal cicadas. 

[El Tejon]

None here.  Too bad, I wanted to see the praying mantises catch them.

[crt360]

El T, what ever happened to all those slugs you were battling with?

[MechAg94]

Down here the fire ants would take them out pretty good.  Probably make for a pretty bad summer for fire ants.
When I was a kid I figured half the cicadas at least got eaten by fire ants before making into flight.  It was interesting watching those larger black ants pull them apart before they got out of their shell.

[El Tejon]

crt, never came back after I killed a bunch last August or so.

I am currently under attack from rabbits (cottontails and those longhaired pet rabbits) and squirrels.  I've shot dozens this spring.  I'm making some great kills recently, getting into the brain pan through the eye.  It's wonderful to see the mist.

I'm using my refinished Beemans (sent a few to California over the winter).  The .25 makes a big splash but I often find myself reaching for the C1 in .177 as I do not have to go so far into the room to deaden the sound when shooting.

I have a park/graveyard nearby and they may be drifting over from there.  I have seen cats in the nieghborhood so one would think that the cats would cut them down.  Lazy cats!

No chipmunks yet on my stone retaining walls.  I'll keep a sharp eye out for them though.

Fort Wabash Valley out.

[crt360]

Glad to hear you scared the slugs off, but it sounds like they were keeping the rabbit population under control, unlike your lazy local gatos.  Shooting those graveyard rabbits in the eye should give you a little practice, in case the cicadas show up.  I'd love to dig out the old airguns for some backyard fun, but I'm sure some lame neighbor would call the cops.   

[cordex]

I have a park/graveyard nearby and they may be drifting over from there.  I have seen cats in the nieghborhood so one would think that the cats would cut them down.  Lazy cats!

"Uncle Kirk, what are you doing with those fuzzy bunnies in your yard?"
"Sending them home, little one.  I am sending them home."

We had our cicada invasion a few years back.  I want to say 2003.  Nearly needed hearing protection if you went out into the country.
Cute they are not.