I think that I want to be a Cicada Groupie

[clean]

What can I say? 

I like the idea of traveling the country and seeing/hearing the sights and sounds that the periodic Cicadas put on! 

I visited a friend at the University of Mississippi when they were emerging!  My poor friend was feeling a bit drowned out! The apartment was surrounded by trees and the cicadas covered the area and it was really really loud!  I think that they looked cool and I enjoyed the visit! 

I think that as part of my retirement or maybe my preretirement travels, i will visit the areas as they emerge and see what there is to see AND visit the Cicadas!

Anyone else harbor such ambitions?


Oh, I also want to see the synchronous fireflies! 

And I like to see the bats come out of their caves!  (Ive seen those in Austin, Texas and Old Tunnel Wildlife area when I had a chance to visit Texas in an early September. 

What do YOU want to see?  (any other suggestions?)

[wareagle]

The aurora borealis, from northern Alaska.

[sinenomine]

I miss living in a cicada area and would love to see the aurora borealis. I'd also like to see the sun set over the ocean.

[apl68]

I've seen the bats coming out of Carlsbad Caverns at dusk.

When the last big cicada emergence hit our region some years back, I saw a bird grab a cicada.  The cicada buzzed and struggled until the bird let it go.

Then the bird tried again.  Again the cicada fought back until the bird let it go.  Then the bird tried a third time.  Once again the cicada fought back.  Finally the bird let the cicada go and flew off.  That meal just put up too much of a fight to be worth it!

We also learned that same season that my parents' Chihuahua (the one they used to have, not their current pet) really liked scarfing them down.  Evidently he considered cicadas a delicacy.

[Larimar]

I'm looking forward to the cicadas coming out too. They are cool!

One of the feral cats in my neighborhood gave birth to a litter of kittens a few weeks ago. I wonder if the cicadas will make for a very convenient way for her to teach the kittens how to hunt!


Also chime to seeing the Aurora Borealis. I've heard that the best place in the world to see it from is Iceland, so I dream of a trip to Reykjavík, or maybe Stockholm, to see it from.

Maybe after retirement, which is twelve years off.

[clean]

The aurora borealis, from northern Alaska.

Is this a February event, generally?

Somehow I think that I saw something about this being a big Japanese Tourist draw?

Dont get me wrong!  I would sure like to see it, though maybe not at 40 below!

[Liquidambar]

Oh, I also want to see the synchronous fireflies! 

They have some relevance to my research area, and the US fireflies appear around the time of our conference. I really want us to have our conference there!  It's impractical since apparently the fireflies are a tourist attraction.  My professional society holds its conferences at attractions during the off season, not the main season.  However, it would be so cool!

I want to see the aurora borealis too.

[Wahoo Redux]

I grew up on the west coast and had no idea what a cicada was.  Then one day this buzzing green wedge flew through my window and bumbled around my midwest apartment, driving the dog nuts.  It was the clumsiest flying monster I had ever seen.

I've never seen a gibbon in person.  They are friendly to humans I think.

And the aurora borealis.  I'd love to see that.

[wareagle]

The aurora borealis, from northern Alaska.

Is this a February event, generally?

Somehow I think that I saw something about this being a big Japanese Tourist draw?

Dont get me wrong!  I would sure like to see it, though maybe not at 40 below!

All winter long.  Best viewed north of the Arctic Circle.  I have seen them in the lower 48, rarely, and not the kind of display you'll see way up north, so it's a bucket-list item for me. 

Northern Scandinavian countries, northern Russia - really, anywhere that's way up north will have dazzling displays in the winter.

Heavy parka, Mad Bomber hat, Sorel boots, and chopper mitts - you can do it!

[mamselle]

I the the New Yorker did an article on trying to see them (they're very coy and finicky)...

I'll have to find it.

Yep, there it us!

   https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/chasing-the-aurora-borealis?source=search_google_dsa_paid&gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQh5HhPhRZhk99hQn648g6bKi5XYnfFYXsa3or3JQ6Ns4M5tUfSOIghoCMYwQAvD_BwE

Enjoy!

M.

[Volhiker78]

I've seen the bats coming out of Carlsbad Caverns at dusk.

I'd like to see that too.  When I was in college,  I waited tables at Mammoth Cave one summer.  The natural entrance to Mammoth Cave is large and when it would get really hot and humid,  we would take lawn chairs down to near the entrance just to enjoy the cool breeze coming from the mouth of the cave.   Bats also flew out but not too many of them at any one time - rangers said that the presence of tourists in that part of the cave scared the bats away.   

[Wahoo Redux]

I'd like to see a tornado, in a field someplace, not a town or trailer park, from a distance.

[Langue_doc]

I'd like to see a tornado, in a field someplace, not a town or trailer park, from a distance.

No, no, no, no! Bad idea! Tornadoes are unpredictable, and you could get sucked into one just like Dorothy.

[zyzzx]

The aurora borealis, from northern Alaska.

Is this a February event, generally?

Somehow I think that I saw something about this being a big Japanese Tourist draw?

Dont get me wrong!  I would sure like to see it, though maybe not at 40 below!

All winter long.  Best viewed north of the Arctic Circle.  I have seen them in the lower 48, rarely, and not the kind of display you'll see way up north, so it's a bucket-list item for me. 

Northern Scandinavian countries, northern Russia - really, anywhere that's way up north will have dazzling displays in the winter.

Heavy parka, Mad Bomber hat, Sorel boots, and chopper mitts - you can do it!

Iceland! See them from the comfort of your hot tub (bonus points for a natural hot spring) outside your cabin in the countryside, while drinking brennivin and periodically jumping in the snow to cool off. Absolutely magical (except for the brennivin - that stuff is awful). You can see them from the middle of Reykjavik, but best is out in the middle of nowhere in December or January, when it's dark most of the time.

[namazu]

I'd like to see a tornado, in a field someplace, not a town or trailer park, from a distance.

Crossed this off my list on the road trip home from my PhD graduation ceremony!  I have no need to see another, thankyouverymuch.

Add me to the list of those wishing to see the synchronous fireflies.  Maybe we should have a forum meetup in Great Smoky Mountains NP...  (And Liquidambar, I'd love to hear more about your research sometime!)

I would also really love to see the wintering grounds of the monarch butterflies in the oyamel fir forests in Mexico while they're still extant, though between having a young'un and increasing unrest in that part of Mexico, I don't know if it will happen.

The 2024 solar eclipse (totality zone -- I only saw a partial eclipse last time) seems within reach.