Running with the cicadas

 So, I am sure by now everyone has heard about cicadas. They are the talk of the town right now. Chronogram wrote a great article about these interesting bugs, the cicada, that emerge every 13 or 17 years just to sing, mate and die. They are all out now singing for females to mate with. I can hear them as I write this.

The other day, we went to Bowdoin Park for the usual hike through the woods, when the singing of the cicadas became it's loudest the minute we turned on Sheafe Road. Sounded like an alien invasion and you can see them flying everywhere. I find these little guys interesting but I am also terrified of one landing on me or coming near me. Not a fan of bugs. We get to the park and seriously it was like Cicada land. So, we get out of the car and here I was running with the cicadas. We didn't run through the woods but we had a great workout on the soccer field and running up the hills. I did take the time and watch them and learn about them a little more. My niece liked to pet them. She pet this particular cicada and it made this high pitched noise as it flew away (maybe a male?) but the other ones let her pet them. Maybe these were the females? Lots of cicadas were up in the trees and some were hanging out in the grass. Watching the cicadas, I couldn't help but notice the birds, which were so intensely focused on catching and eating them. In the beginning of spring or so, I remember all the small holes in the ground in the woods were we ran. My husband and I, trying to figure out what insect did that. He said grubs I thought an animal digging for insects. Then a few days later, we saw this thick yellow bug crawling near one of these holes. It looked a grub. But now we know it was a cicada nymph that crawled out of the ground to crawl up a tree, shed its skin and grow some wings and become the cicada we see now flying around and singing in the trees. There is definitely a lot of "action" in the park right now and it's kinda cool and amazing.

Since this is a blog about clean eating, did you know that the cicada is protein rich, gluten-free and low in carbs? So if you need to wake up your healthy meals, read this National Geographic article about the cicada, a culinary delight. If anyone tries these, I would love to hear about it. Enjoy.