Cicadas at Ramsey Lake State Park

With thoughts geared towards the cicada emergence currently occurring across all of Southern Illinois, on Wednesday I took Ava down to Ramsey Lake State Park located in Fayette county. Although she could care less about cicadas, I was hoping to witness the phenomena in greater abundance unlike previous attempts. There were without question many more cicadas than I had encountered already. I have been wanting to photograph a freshly hatched cicada while it is still light in coloration but no such luck still. It may seem foolish to be so intent on finding these things but they only come out every 13 years and who knows where we will be when they return in 2024?

Expecting to see cicadas and nothing else, it almost goes without saying that I was very pleased to find among other things, a pair of Broad Headed Skinks as well as juvenile Green Tree Frog. The male Broad Headed Skink is a huge success as he allowed me to get close with the macro attachment even though the female took off. Ava spotted the Three Lined Skink seen towards the end from under a picnic table and it is by far one of our luckiest catches. More than the visuals, the ear piercing drone of tens of thousands if not millions of cicadas is what had the most significant impact. I recorded this sound through video and have assembled a slideshow compromised of clips and stills found HERE.