17-year Cicada exiting its exoskeleton and inflating its wings.
This series of images shows a 17-year (periodical) cicada molting from its exoskeleton and emerging as an adult, and inflating its wings. Images were made on June 1, 2008. Equipment: Nikon D200 DSLR, Tamron 180mm f3.5 macro lens, hand-held on a Nikon SC-17 TTL cord, camera fired using a Nikon MC-30 release cord, tripod: Manfrotto 3221W equipped with a Manfrotto 390RC2 pan/tilt head.
I have been following the cicada's in Bellefonte. I believe this is brood IIV. 17 years ago, I walked through our neighborhood with a hand held cassette recorder, commenting on the volume. To prove that it was 17 years, I retrieved my old tape. We have received some warnings a couple of years ago, but this really was our year. I found about 50 between my front door and my newspaper in the morning. One day I was sweeping out my car with a vacuum and I decided to go to my 'small' front yard. Over a period of 8 days, I vacuumed 3684. Yes, I'm retired, yes, I have better things to do, but perhaps when I'm 91, I won't be able to hear them,....but just in case. Thanks for photos.
