For some of us, the appearance of the XIX brood of 13-year cicadas is just about over.  I am now hearing just a few males singing.  Yesterday while mowing the lawn, I saw only three.  However, I am finding cicada wings and bodies scattered everywhere.  My wife Donna spotted something I overlooked.  She noticed that the leaves on the tips of several branches on a small oak tree growing in our front yard had turned brown.

       This was a clear indication that cicadas had successfully mated and deposited their eggs in those now displaying dead leaves.  This is because after mating, female 13-year cicadas lay their rice-shaped eggs in the very tips of branches.  In some cases, this causes the leaves to die.  However, this is rarely a detriment to the tree. Once the eggs hatch, cicada nymphs topple to the ground and burrow into the soil that will be their home for the next 13 years.

Dead leaves on oak tree; Photo credit: Donna Johnson