I’m happy to announce that we received our first Australian cicada photos of this season!!! The photos were taken by Kevin Lee, Australia’s biggest cicada maniac.
According to Kevin:
This is the season for cicadas and this year they are more proliferating that usual. Some would call it a plague but I love it.
The birds (kookaburras and magpies) are having a feast!
Double Drummer (Thopha saccata):
The Double Drummer can be found in parts of eastern Queensland and Eastern NSW, from November to early March. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p.55)
rare green yellow Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) and others:
rare green yellow Green Grocer:
Cyclochila australasiae can be found in eastern Queensland, NSW and Victoria, and most emerge in October and November (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 61.).
2 replies on “Cicada photos from Australia”
that’s not a double drummer – this is a double drummer!
We must have bred ’em bigger in Nowra in the 70’s, but seriously
what we called double drummers were twice that size
Great shots and it would be useful to know the sites of capture please Kevin. The “yellow monday” shots above are really closer to the higher altitude (>500m) “Masked devil” colour morph (black “mask” between the eyes and black abdomen) of the Green Grocer. These orange/black variants emerged in huge numbers on the Blue Mountains west of Sydney from Woodford to Blackheath (500-1200m) from 1st October and are dwindling now due to some recent heavy thunderstorms over the past 2 weeks. Your photo is close to the morphs seen around Mt Tomah and Mt Victoria that don’t express the full orange (don’t ask me why as the altitude is only 100-200m difference).
Large emergences of Thopha saccata (“double drummer”) have occurred south of Sydney over the past 2 weeks.
Please keep up the great shots- I must send some as well.
David.