[BCNnet] FYI: Lake Co. FP asking for help (no bird sightings)

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

FYI - Randi Doeker, Chicago

 

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Cicadas are coming; 1990 tales wanted 

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August 22, 2006

Chicago Tribune

 

LAKE COUNTY -- Have any vivid memories of carting away shovels full of
large, red-eyed flying insects back in 1990?

 

The Lake County Forest Preserve District would like to hear about them.

 

The district is seeking information from residents as it prepares for the
emergence next summer of thousands of 17-year periodic cicadas, which appear
all at once, in contrast to annual cicadas, which mature and emerge at
different times.

 

Officials want to find out if there were particular locations where large
groups formed or even spots where none was seen at all.

 

"It only happens every 17 years and people tend to remember it because it's
pretty fantastic when it happens," said Jennifer Filipiak, a wildlife
biologist with the district. "I'm sure we'll get stories from people
remembering having to shovel them away."

 

Also known as 17-year locusts, periodic cicadas are related to leafhoppers,
not true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper. They have red eyes
instead of the green eyes of annual cicadas.

 

Cicadas are harmless insects with wide-set eyes, short antennae and
transparent veined wings.

 

The eggs for the 17-year cicadas were laid in 1990. The bugs have been
living underground ever since, Filipiak said.

 

Send information to forestpreserves at co.lake.il.us or call 847-968-3283. 

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