Last Saturday we went to Cantigny Park for the annual art fair. I was curious to see if they had any or many cicadas.
As we drove west to get to the park, we went through some areas where we could hear cicadas (with the car windows closed) and see them flying across the expressway.
There was a table at Cantigny with information for children about cicadas. I asked a man helping there (who was from the University of Illinois) why Oak Park doesn’t have cicadas but River Forest does. He said it was because Oak Park had so many elm trees and every time a tree dies the cicadas living on its roots die. River Forest was planted with more variety of trees (before these areas were settled they were prairie, I believe – people added the trees) and so the cicada population was not hit so hard there. I also wonder if it’s because it’s right next to the river, where the trees are not disturbed. Read the rest of this entry »
06-21-2007 |
Comments OffA couple of weeks ago we were told the cicadas were due out any day. We still haven’t seen any in our own village but we’ve been hearing that there are lots out less than a mile west of here. On Saturday morning my husband biked over there and told me we should all go look. He said as he biked west he reached a place where you could hear a constant loud background hum and there were empty shells all over the tree trunks. (The cicadas crawl up the treetrunks as nymphs, then, clinging to the tree, emerge from their shells as adults)
We did drive through there Saturday afternoon. I went back early Sunday morning with my camera. Read the rest of this entry »
06-05-2007 |
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