Guys, it's that time of year again!!! I'll give you a hint... it starts with a 'C'. Yes! It's the most wonderful time of the year: Cicada Season!
I LOVE this time of year; balmy nights, perfect for wanders, life just barreling on at a crazy speed. And cicadas, dragging themselves up and out of the dirt to start that final climb upwards where they shed their old skin and their old life and emerge fresh and beautiful.
Seriously, if you haven't witnessed it yet, it's totally worth a quick duck outside around 9ish and look for a dirty looking critter making a very slow ascent up a wall, tree, your deck, basically anything vertical. Once in position you'll start to see a small split appear on the back of the shell and slowly the cicada will vibrate and pulse its way out.
The entire process takes hours but even if you only catch a part of the moult, I guarantee you, it'll leave you with your jaw on the floor.
Here's a not-great quality time lapse I took a year or so ago to give you a taste.
Cicada Moult
Northern Illawarra
