The Cicadas are Coming!

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The Xerces Society


Everybody has his or her own treasured experience of insects -- a nighttime lit by 
fireflies, the sight of monarchs clustered for the winter…full story here.

PLT: below - Definitely not cicadas, but an unidentified swarm of rather hard-backed, 
flying insects which gathered on a vehicle in my yard on a warm day in April, then died. 
Recognize them? Let me know if you know what they are! Thanks!
Below is a response I got when I posted the last photo on an online bug i.d. website.
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"I do believe these are Water Boatmen. As adults these occasionally come flying out of the ponds in which they've spent all their juvenile lives in search of new ponds to colonize. If your vehicle has a smooth reflection to it (or better yet--is some shade of blue or black or green) they could easily have mistaken the sheen of your vehicle for that of a pond. These poor guys probably then proceeded to bake to death very quickly on the hot surface of your car..."

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