Common Nature

Cicadas are hatching! I've seen a few hatch earlier, but this morning after the rain there are lots of them. The biggest concentration is around the forest garden and edges of the patio. :D These are red-eyed cicadas, technically periodical cicadas. Their carapaces are almost hard, their wings fully extended but still too soft to fly. It's a feast for everything that eats insects. Humans can eat them too. (I'm not planning to try that.) Usually what we get here are various types of the larger green cicadas, like the dog-day cicadas.

For maximum birdwatching benefits, keep an eye out on mornings after a rain. Once the nymphs shed their shells, they are soft and vulnerable. Many birds eagerly feast on them.

See also the poem "The Flying Jewels of Spring."


Several cicadas cling to leaves near their shells.




Here is a closeup of a shell on a leaf.




Many cicadas emerged around the forest garden.




This shell is clinging to a grass stem.




A cicada poses on a grass stem.




This shell almost forms an abstract picture.




A cicada looks head-on at the camera.




The barrel garden is blooming.




Pink salvia blooms beside the barrel garden.




A firecracker plant blooms in the barrel garden. Hummingbirds love these things.




This is the rain garden before today's planting.




A purple columbine now blooms in the rain garden.




I abandoned this project halfway through to chase a butterfly. I was taking off the old hanging baskets to replace them with new ones. I have since repurposed the old ones as patio pots.




An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeds on a flowering bush. I am all excited because this is the bush beside the picnic table container garden, where I just planted dill and fennel. I am hoping for caterpillars!




Here is a closeup of the swallowtail butterfly. I don't know what the bush is; it's older than I am. The closest I've found is mock orange but it doesn't seem quite like the pictures.