This week’s photo challenge asks for a photo depicting change. It’ll be no surprise to you that I’ve pulled out yet another photo of nature, taken by my husband: a cicada emerging from its exoskeleton in our garden last June.
Cicadas in this region spend two years underground as nymphs. They dig an escape tunnel of over 30 cm to the surface, like light-hungry prisoners armed with hope and teaspoons. How do they know which way is up? When they finally pop out and discard all the unnecessary packaging, the poor things have just two to three weeks to live (if they don’t get eaten first).
This little guy popped his head out of a hole in front of PF, who spent the entire afternoon observing him as he shed his exoskeleton. (The cicada, not PF. Obviously.) Then his wings dried and unfolded little by little. We left him to get on with his short existence…. but does life feel as long for a cicada as it does for us?
To reassure any of you who found Mr Cicada a tad on the ugly side, here is a pic after a few hours of wing unrolling and drying, and a picture of what he would have finally looked like: a fully fledged miniature army helicopter.
Multifarious meanderings 
Quite remarkable!
Brave little soul. We did wonder how long he survived, and if he was one of the gadzillions pumping up the volume every afternoon in the pine trees behind the house 🙂
What a perfect interpretation! !
Thank you (MM bows in sparkly black sequined cocktail dress).
Wow, that’s a great photo for ‘change’ they must be able to feel the heat from the surface and that’s how they know which way is up! 🙂
Clever, huh? And they don’t have sunglasses, either; that must hurt after two years in the dark!
Ha ha yes 🙂 Isn’t nature amazing though?!
gosh MM, I didn’t know whether to LIKE this post or not… this picture appeared on my reader and… I thought… who the hell posted this photo… then I scrolled down and it was you! maybe it’s because it is enlarged and SO BIG!! yaiks! looks pretty ugly!… sorry…I know it’s what nature intended and all that, but they could have made the little thing a bit more pretty, like a butterfly?
You didn’t half make me laugh 🙂 I’ve added another two photos on the post of the cicada so you can see the result once they dry out. I admit she did look more like something off Dr Who when she popped out. After she transfomed into something much more beautiful…. 🙂
ok I agree, the two other pictures are much better! :), you can leave the LIKE… 😉
Lou souleu me faï canta !
Papounet.
“The sun makes me sing”, in provençal. Mamie was a good language teacher 🙂
Brilliant images, MM. In the later ones her wings look like gorgeous Art Nouveau glass – Tiffany or similar. 🙂
Thanks, Miss P. Designer 1900 wings – true!
I was trying to work out which was the exoskeleton and which was the beastie! d’oh…
I’d be surprised if anything could emerge from my garden as the earth bakes rock solid. They’d need a pneumatic drill to get through!
Keep an eye out, they are determined beasties. Our garden is rock solid too 🙂
Amazing! 🙂
Thank you, and sorry for the delay replying to your comment 😉
From squidgy little baby to shiny adult so quickly.
And then an independent musician escaping hungry birds 🙂
Beautiful pictures. It’s so important to stop and take the time to appreciate when you can. 🙂
Thank you! The most beautiful things in life are often free – for those who know where to find them 😉
Fantastic creature. I so look forward to the sound of them. Lovely pictures.
Ours choose to sing right through the news – so much more pleasant to listen to than French political palavers 🙂