Ben here with today's edition of #BenInNature presented by our friends at Carter Bank & Trust!

March 5, 2021

Ben here with today's edition of #BenInNature presented by our friends at Carter Bank & Trust!

This week, we've been looking at some of my favorite never-before-seen photos of critters we've looked at previously. We'll close out the week with one of my favorite photos I've ever taken: a periodical cicada, captured while in the process of molting!

I took this photo early one morning this past spring when we had the massive emergence of periodical cicada Brood IX, which appeared in parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and West Virginia.

This year, there's going to be another huge emergence of periodical cicadas! Brood X will be popping up soon in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., and possibly New York (they may be extirpated in New York).

Also known as the "Great Eastern Brood," Brood X has the greatest range of any brood of 17-year cicadas. Tragically (in my opinion, anyway), we probably won't see any periodical cicadas in Virginia this year. According to the website cicadamania.com, the Virginia counties that are likely to see cicadas are mostly in northern Virginia. I may have to take a road trip...

By the way, here's a piece of bonus trivia about Brood X: they're the only cicada brood to ever be referenced in a Bob Dylan song! The song "Day of the Locusts" on Dylan's 1970 album "New Morning" references the Brood X cicadas that were present when he received an honorary degree from Princeton that same year. Of course, Dylan was committing a classic faux pas by referring to cicadas as "locusts," but I'll cut him some slack since he wrote "Lay Lady Lay."

ABOUT #BenInNature
Social distancing can be difficult, but it presents a great opportunity to become reacquainted with nature. In this series of posts, Administrator of Science Ben Williams ventures outdoors to record a snapshot of the unique sights that can be found in the natural world. New updates are posted Monday - Friday, with previous posts highlighted on the weekends. This series of posts is made possible thanks to the support of VMNH Corporate Partner Carter Bank & Trust (www.cbtcares.com)

NATURE PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS
If you discover something in nature that you would like help identifying, be sure to message us right here on Facebook with a picture (please include location and date of picture) and we'll have our experts help you identify it!