Harvest - Plan

After emerging from the ground,  the cicada climbs up a tree or shrub to shed its shell.  It makes an opening in the back of the shell then crawls out leaving the shell attached. If it hasn't become a bird snack by now, it dries it's wings then goes about the business of  drinking and  making babies.

When approached, a cicada will simply fly away. If handled, both males and females struggle to fly, and males make a loud defensive buzzing sound that may startle but is otherwise harmless. Cicadas are not poisonous or known to transmit disease." University of Michigan Periodical Cicada Page.  It is the male that makes all of the noise.

"After mating, adult female cicadas use their blade like ovipositor to make long openings in new growth sections of tree branches. A female usually lays 20 to 30 eggs in each opening, and there can be several egg "nests" per branch. During her short adult life stage, each female lays approximately 600 eggs. The eggs take six to eight weeks to mature then the nymphs drop to the ground and immediately begin their descent into an underground world." John Folz University of Florida 

"Eggs hatch into nymphs, which drop to the ground and burrow into the soil, where they suck juices from roots of trees and shrubs. Depending upon the species, cicada nymphs remain underground from 1 to 17 years, then emerge."  4-40.com

We are expecting the "adult periodical cicadas, Magicicada spp., they are sucking insects, about 1.5-inches long, that appear from May to July. They are most numerous in the last two weeks of May and first week of June. They are black and have reddish-orange eyes and legs. Adults have clear wings with orange veins that are held roof-like over their bodies." Ohio Online Fact Sheet