Friday, July 26, 2013

When a Cricket is not a Cricket: Cicadas in Oregon

I love the sound of crickets in the evening.  They always remind me of summers where I grew up in North Carolina.  It seems like we had more crickets there, and where my grandparents lived in the mid-west, than we do here in western Oregon (or should I say HEAR in western Oregon?). I don't know if that's true, but it seems like that to me.

Late last summer I had a tree cricket in my yard, happily chirping his little tune every night.  I was glad to have him move in because I've never heard a cricket right here in my yard, which is in a fairly urban area.  I sat on the patio many evenings over several weeks listening to his song, which was eventually joined by another.

So I was excited when I heard chirping again yesterday afternoon, but I thought it was a little early in the day for a tree cricket to be singing.  I went in search of the chirping's source, which was pretty high up in a Cascara tree, and found... a cicada?! 


Cicada (probably Okanagana rimosa) in a Cascara tree
 I've seen cicadas by the thousands when visiting my grandparents in Illinois and Missouri, but they were bigger and greener.  And I've never seen or heard one in Oregon. 

Cicada (probably Okanagana rimosa) in a Cascara tree
Having spent my fair share of time outdoors in Western and Central Oregon, I probably would have said we don't have cicadas here.  That's why I grabbed my camera as fast as I could, and snapped these pictures.  They're not great because it was about 10 feet up the tree, and this was the only angle I could get.

After I got the photos I sat down to do a little research, to see if there really were cicadas in Oregon, or if this was just a wayward traveler blown in by some freak wind.  I was somewhat surprised to read that there really are cicadas in Oregon.

A local biologist, named Max, wrote on his blog (Apartment Biology) that the cicadas found in Oregon "are smaller, emerge in lower densities, and are not as loud as the ones found in the southern and eastern parts of the country."  He reported hearing many cicadas - most likely of the genus Okanagana - at Shute Park in Hillsboro.  He also found their exuvia (shed exoskelotons) on the trunks of the conifers in the park.

I looked around for my visitor's exoskeleton, but didn't find anything.  I think he must have flown into my yard.  And soon enough after I took the photos, he flew away - probably in search of a better cicada social scene.

While researching cicadas in Oregon, I ran across a great site called Cicada Mania.  Everything you've ever wanted to know about cicadas, plus lots of photos, videos and even sound clips of different cicada songs.  After tweeting a photo of my cicada to their Twitter account (@cicadamania), I learned that we have 32 species of cicadas in Oregon, all belonging to the Okanagana, Platypedia, or Neoplatypedia genus.  Judging from the limited view of my cicada, they thought it was probably Okanagana rimosa, sometimes called Say's Cicada.  

Here are some interesting cicada facts, from Wikipedia:

  • Cicadas are insects in the order Hemiptera.
  • About 2,500 species of cicada have been described, and many remain to be described. 
  • Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs, but NOT locusts.
  • Cicadas do not bite or sting in a true sense, but may mistake a person's arm or other part of their body for a tree or plant limb and attempt to feed (only if allowed to rest on a person's body for an extended amount of time.)
  • Many people around the world regularly eat cicadas. 
  • Cicadas have three small eyes, or ocelli, located on the top of the head between the two large eyes.
  • The male cicada has loud noisemakers called "tymbals", their song is not created by structures rubbing together, as in crickets.
  • Some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB- loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in humans should the cicada sing just outside the listener's ear. 
  • Cicadas live underground as nymphs for most of their lives, emerging in the final nymphal instar, and molting one last time to become adults.
  • After mating, the female cuts slits into the bark of a twig, and into these she deposits her eggs.  When the eggs hatch, the newly hatched nymphs drop to the ground, where they burrow.
  • Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer life cycles.
Wikipedia has much more cicada information, including cicada symbolism and culinary use, and even a time-lapse clip of an adult cicada emerging from its molted exoskeleton.

So how about it - has anyone else seen cicadas in Portland or other parts of Oregon?


21 comments:

  1. This is interesting. I wonder if their range is expanding further north. I moved from Portland to Eugene in 2009, where I heard my first cicadas all summer long. When I moved back to Portland in 2011, they were there! I pay a lot of attention to insects and animal songs, so I find it hard to believe that I simply didn't notice them before. Have you noticed more cicadas since your post? If I remember right, in summer 2016 they were singing all over North Portland's neighborhoods.

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  2. Just found a Cicada in my garden resting on my raspberry bushes. I was surprised as I've heard and seen them in the South Eastern U.S. and I did know they are in France. But to find one in Oregon was a shock. For some reason in Western France(Brittany) have large Cicada decorations on the front of their house.

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    1. I just found an exoskeleton on my raspberry bushes! I have found the exoskeletons there over the last few years, but I didn't know what they were from. I also didn't realize there were cicadas in western Oregon.

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    2. I just removed one from my tomato plant. I live in Cottage Grove.

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    3. I took several photo's of one in my tomato plant pot this morning. I am about 10 miles west of Junction City, OR. I used to hear them in the trees out here but not so much in recent years.

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    4. I found an exoskeleton on my fence post in Eugene today. I haven't noticed any before. I grew up in AZ so hearing the "trees buzz" and seeing their exoskeletons on the trees were normal there.

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  3. I live in Eugene, Oregon now. I moved here from Austin, Texas where the sound of cicadas was quite normal. I was blown away to here them in my back yard in a walnut tree. There even as loud as the ones in Texas!

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  4. I just found a drowned one floating in our pool. I did not think they lived here, but my eyes were not wrong!

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  5. I snapped a pic moments ago of a cicada in my driveway. It's enormous. I've never seen one before. I lives in Vancouver, WA.

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  6. I was thrilled that there were quite a few in my yard in Eugene last August, and next to a noisy road too.

    I intentionally left piles of leaves etc. around trees as an undisturbed habitat for the eggs and nymphs to complete their life cycle. Hoping for more of this their music this summer.

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  7. Just found a little one (compared to the big ones we had in Kansas) on my pump house out here in Yamhill! I might be in the minority, but I loved to hear the "reee-arrr, reee-arr" of cicada's in the evening as a youngster in Kansas.

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  8. We have many in our orchards here in Roseburg, OR. Amazing sound. DO they do any damage to crops?

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  11. We have them in our backyard. Southeast Portland.
    Very cool to listen to!

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  12. I hace just found out I have cicadas in my southern oregon medford home. I took one to the grange co-op to get it identified. My cat keeps bringing them in from outside.

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  13. Went on a walk today and heard a few in the tree that is on the NE corner of SE 88th & Holgate, bear the TriMet stop, so beautiful, sounded like the ones in the Phillipines.

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    1. In Portland! and sorry for typo: *near the TriMet stop

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  14. Just found my pup attempting to eat a live one and multiple exoskeletons in Springfield.

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  16. I was raking under our Filbert tree in our back yard a found several exoskeleton and was bafled at first. Heard them out there for many nights but just thought they were loud crickets. But no. Wow!

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