In May of 2007 cicadas that had been living underground for 17 years started to come out and spread their wings.. They all come more or less at the same time, making their way up through the ground and climb up trees and other things vertical. The cicadas then shed their skin and what is left is a winged, red-eyed creature that cannot harm you at all, except perhaps to make your voice a bit scratchy due to having to scream over the loud whirring noises they make. Cicadas will not bite or sting you and are not considered a pest. They live about six weeks for the soul purpose of finding a mate and laying eggs. Then they wait another 17 years before reappearing again to repeat the same cycle. In some countries, they consider the cicada an important part of their diet.

The last time that this cycle occurred I was very young. What I remember most from that time was my grandfather telling me to step on the carcasses of the cicadas that were on their back porch because they crunch. It's true. They do. And just as they all arrive at the same time, they also seem to die at the same time and coat the ground with their bodies.

This time I returned to my grandparent's home in Elmhurst again to see the cicadas. These are the pictures that resulted.

A glance of an adult cicada on a trumpet vine.	Some exoskeletons of the cicada on a fence post.	One landed on my brother's cap. He's a Sox fan, as you can see.	More exoskeletons on a tree.
And here is a mix of adult cicadas and exoskeletons on a tree.
To view the videos below, click on the one you would like to see and then press Spacebar or Enter.
Take a look at this video that I took of the cicadas on a tree. The noise you hear in the background is the sound that the cicadas make. It can be quite deafening at times.		In this second video you can see the exoskeletons the cicadas leave behind that line the tree up as far as you can see.

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