The Life & Death of a Cicada

Today, we went outside to enjoy the lovely weather and we got a very nice little nature show in our backyard. If you don't know what a Cicada is, you will by the end of this blog. Alex and Abby were thrilled to watch all the bugs in action. In fact, I had to drag them in the house because they wanted to watch the bugs. Alex's new word of the day is 'cicada' and he has been talking about them since. So now, through the power of digital photography, I shall present to you the Life and Death of a Cicada. (Yes...I took all of these photos myself...no google search for these bad boys).

One day, a lovely little cicada nymph came out of the ground to crawl up then nearest tree. After the long trek up the trunk, he decided to hatch.

He was happier now with wings and to not be trapped in his previous ugly nymph body. He stretched his pale wings, waiting for the sun and wind to dry him so he could take flight into the wild blue yonder.

After his trek into the world, he took a well-deserved rest as he watched two children in the distance.

He thought of how strange it was that they should wear his shed exoskeleton as a strange form of jewelry. They seemed to pride themselves in the many shed skins of his brothers and sisters.

But those children continued to collect the exoskeletons and wear them with a smile. But while he was distracted by their strange behavior...

A large cicada-killer swooped down and ate him up.

The moral of the story? It sucks to be a cicada.

The End.

*Please note that the cicada in the first photo was not harmed (yet). It was a completely other cicada that bit it in the end.