A New Journey

This evening was quite unexpectedly exciting. Yes, it’s Friday night and after a long summer semester of school and work, I was looking to relax with some recreational activities. After some contemplation A--- and I came to the realization that all work and no play over the course of several months has left us with little to do on a Friday night. We decided upon dinner at our favorite restaurant and then a relaxing, stress free evening at home, maybe some popcorn and a movie.

After dinner A--- asked about the very loud buzzing and chirping sound we often hear coming from the trees around our house. I politely explained that it was the work of cicadas. Being the nerd that I am, I began to ramble on about the very interesting creatures. This prompted a short field trip to the tree in front of our house. I was really excited about finding a shedding from one on the base of the large pine to show him. We found three. Upon further investigation, I noticed the third was actually in the beginning stages of shedding. HOW EXCITING!!

We collected the specimen and brought it in to watch the shedding of its exoskeleton. It was really amazing! It took the little guy an estimated 20 minutes to complete his task of exiting his skeleton.

I decided that there must be more of them in the neighborhood molting, so we went hunting. Only found one more in the process and brought him in to compare. It was so very cool! I tried to get some footage of the act, but only caught the last 7 minutes. I will post some pictures!

Oh yeah! My National Association of Biology Teachers journal arrived today! What a day!