birding-aus

Cicadas in April?!

To: Charles Hunter <>
Subject: Cicadas in April?!
From: Allan Richardson <>
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:04:45 +1000
Multiple cicadas Charles, that sounds very interesting.

I didn't get chance to check out my species, but it did sound like one of the 
smaller species and not as large as Ashwin's Green Grocer.

I've cc'd Lindsay Popple in to see if he can shed any light on whether what 
we're seeing is out of the realms of normality for cicadas in our neck of the 
woods.

Allan

On 13/04/2013, at 3:47 PM, Charles Hunter wrote:

> Hi Allan,
>  
> I heard cicadas this week in Bronte which I thought was unusual.
>  
> They were Black Prince tom thumbs.
>  
> I usually get excited in late August / September when I first hear them as it 
> means summer is coming to Sydney (generally, the tom thumbs come out first in 
> the season before their bigger cousins).
>  
> Cheers,
> Charles Hunter
> 
> From: Allan Richardson <>
> To: Ashwin Rudder <> 
> Cc: birding-aus <> 
> Sent: Saturday, 13 April 2013 3:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cicadas in April?!
> 
> Hi Ashwin,
> 
> Can't answer all your questions directly, but I think you questions are 
> pertinent to birds, since cicadas are an important food source for some 
> migratory species (Dollarbirds for instance) and insects are after all a big 
> part of the reason birds migrate.
> 
> In extension to that I'm wondering if it might be respective extensions to 
> arrival and departure dates of migrant birds, as dictated by insect 
> availability, that may be some of the key indicators of climate change at 
> work in temperate regions.
> 
> Interesting to know if cicadas in the tropics have extended breeding periods 
> over temperate species otherwise climate change may not have an effect here?
> 
> Just this week I heard a cicada starting to sing in the Gunnedah area and 
> thought how unusual it was. Has anyone else had a similar experience lately 
> or are we the only two?
> 
> Allan Richardson
> Morisset NSW
> 
> On 12/04/2013, at 2:59 PM, Ashwin Rudder wrote:
> 
> > I have just found a Green Grocer Cicada nymph (fully developed) awkwardly
> > wandering around my backyard looking for somewhere to shed its shell. I
> > cannot recall having ever recorded a Green Grocer outside of summer in our
> > area (Sydney, inner-west to be precise), and April is very late in general
> > for a cicada to be emerging isn't it? Can anyone suggest why it might have
> > decided now was the right moment to look for a mate?
> > 
> > Apologies to those who believe this is an inappropriate forum to be raising
> > this, but given birders tend to be much more aware of the natural
> > environment than others I know I felt some might have something to share on
> > the topic.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Ashwin
> > ===============================
> > 
> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> > send the message:
> > unsubscribe
> > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> > to: 
> > 
> > http://birding-aus.org/
> > ===============================
> 
> ===============================
> 
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> 
> http://birding-aus.org/
> ===============================
> 
> 

===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU