Three quick things:
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The arrival of cicadas during North Carolina summers could increase your chances of encountering a copperhead, a predator of the insects. This year, the state is going through a 13-year period of crisis.
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The influx of cicadas does not result in an increase in the copperhead population, only a slightly higher probability of encounters. This is especially true around oak trees where cicadas are prevalent.
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To reduce encounters with copperheads during cicada season, you should avoid cicada hotspots and remember that the snakes’ normal activity rhythm (even during cicada season) is from dusk to dusk. dawn.
The long-awaited noisemakers have arrived.
The sounds of cicadas – fairly large insects with red eyes and long wings – can be white noise during North Carolina summers. The constant whistling, sometimes clicking song seems to repeat itself as we open our windows to catch some cooler air each evening as the hot summer day draws to a close.
Copperheads, the familiar venomous snake of our area, love this song. It’s their dinner bell.
As the cicadas emerge to shed their shells and chirp their summer songs, the Copperheads await a delicious meal. But does that mean you’re more likely to encounter snakes now, simply because of the extra cicadas?
The News & Observer spoke with Falyn Owens, a wildlife biologist with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, to learn more about snake and cicada activity this time of year — and what that means for the rest of us of us.
What are cicadas? What do they look like?
Cicadas are medium to large insects with long, transparent wings, which are held pointedly on the body when resting. There is a species in North Carolina.
“Often, the most deafening choruses of annual cicadas occur during the hottest days of the year, leading to another common name for this group: dog day cicadas,” said expert Jeff Hall in snakes at the NC Wildlife Commission, N&W. year.
Annual “Dog Day” Cicadas are large, sturdy, dark insects with lighter markings and greenish markings on the wings. These emerge every summer. There are at least seven species in North Carolina.
Periodic cicadas have red-orange eyes and are usually seen in their thousands. These appear over longer cycles, i.e. every 13 or 17 years.
Cicadas are sometimes incorrectly called “crop flies” (but they are not flies) or “locusts” (which are grasshoppers).
When do cicadas emerge in North Carolina?
This year, we already see (and hear) the brood of summer periodicals. North Carolina experiences a periodic 13-year brood (called Brood XIX or 19).
Nationally, two periodic broods emerge at the same time, but they occur in different locations. The only place in the country with a small overlap is in central Illinois.
In North Carolina, annual cicadas…
