I am not sure if it means anything or not, but I have run into a number of cicadas over the past month.
On a float trip with Lee Sczepanski on Indiana's Tippy in early August, we heard quite a few calling while we drifted and fished.
About the same time, the kids mentioned hearing cicadas, and they were right.
The next week, I was walking home from dropping the youngest at speech class and found one still in the hard shell crawling down the sidewalk. That was a first for me. So I picked it up and brought it back to show later to another son who was away at band camp.
Well, by the time he got home, the cicada had shed its shell. I forgot to snap a picture, but it was pretty cool in a twisted sort of way.
Then Thursday, my daughter is swinging and suddenly shouts, ``There's a cicada on the tree.''
And there was the husk pictured above stuck to the maple.
If I get around to it, i may try to get an explanation because the last big cycle of 17-year cicadas around Chicago and the suburbs was in 2007.
What you are probably hearing (and seeing) are Dogday Harvestfly Cicadas. They show up every year. When you hear them, it's also the best time to look for the cicada killer wasps. I've see two so far this year.
Here is a good photo of one:
http://www.catchphotorelease.com/cicada1.htm
More information about this species is below the photo.
Dale
I was scouting a football game last night in Rock Island and ran into a couple cicadas, Thought I was a going crazy until i read this.
I wonder if this will help fishing?
In 2007, I collected stories of people who fished with them around the Chicago area, but I didn't have luck the few times I tried it myself.