The Great Cicada Blitz (NSW, Australia)'s Journal

The 2022-23 cicada season has well and truly started along the east cost of Australia and more recently in NSW. The chilling winter we have shuddered through could translate to a slower than usual start to the season.

It will be interesting to see how this summer pans out for cicadas following the record-breaking rain Sydney and NSW. The Bureau of Metereology have declared a La Nina event for a third successive year and the water table across the state has not been this high in years.

Just like we find ourselves desperately trying to air out the house to prevent an increasing risk of mould, cicada nymphs may also find themselves surrounded by higher prevalance of microbial infections with increased soil moisture. Soil pathogens can affect nymphs while underground or lie dormant in the soil until the cicada comes up. An example of the latter is a the fungi genus Massospora. If you would like to know a little about this fungus, here is a short article from a few years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/19/cicadas-fungus-mate-more-massospora-cicadina

Massospora are known to infect periodical cicadas in North America (among other species worldwide), and there is one species known in Australia - Massospora cicadettae. It has been recorded in NSW, QLD and TAS. However, there could be other species! Researchers in USA (@herebespiders11 and others) have asked if we could keep an eye out for any fungus on cicadas, take photographs and upload the cicada sighting to iNaturalist.

With the impending La Nina to hit eastern Australia we might see a higher occurrence of fungi on cicadas. Your observations could assist in the planning of future international collaborations, grants, and other research on these bizarre pathogens.

Happy hunting!

The long awaited Second Edition of "A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region" is NOW AVAILABLE! There is 2-3 times more content than the First Edition. I'm very happy with how this book turned out!

The book can be purchased via the Square online shopfront here: https://cicadarama.square.site/
$6 flat shipping across Australia! I've not used Square before so please bear with me if there are any teething issues with the site in the early stages

ABOUT THE BOOK:
This book contains information on 38 cicada species common to the Greater Sydney region. But don't just think that this book is for Sydney-siders only! Many of the species in this book also occur in other Australian States and Territories. Indeed, the species maps within highlight their typical distribution in NSW.

Other features of this book include:

▪ A glossary of cicada terminology
▪ An illustrative guide to the cicada life cycle
▪ The plant genera that cicadas are commonly observed on in NSW
▪ A description of common cicadas in the region, with notes on the male calling song, and when and where you might see or hear them
▪ An illustrative figure of each species’ calling song to help
▪ Detailed photographs of each species and photos taken in the field
▪ A BONUS short description of four elusive and rare cicada species

The cicada season in NSW has begun (in case you haven't already heard about it yet)! We're already getting records in Sydney for the Bladder Cicada, Silver Princess, Southern Bark Squeaker, Ferny Acacia Cicada and Varied Ambertail. In my recent time out in the North West Slopes region of NSW last week there were a couple of additional species out as well. This marks the GCB's sixth season on iNaturalist!

Fingers crossed it's a bumper season ahead. This season marks both 7 and 10 years since previous bumper seasons in 2010 and 2013. As we believe larger species like the Green Grocer have that 7-10 underground cycle, this may well be a good year for cicadas!

Although I am running a bit behind my ideal schedule, the 2nd Edition of "A Photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region" is almost here. It is currently at the printing/proofing stage. I should have a better idea of its release date when October hits. Thank you to everyone who sent me photos. Your contributions have given the book an extra dimension for ID-ing cicadas!

A quick update to inform you that a new scientific paper was published today titled, 'A revision of the Yoyetta abdominalis (Distant) species group of cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae), introducing eight new species'.

All new Yoyetta species have now been added into the iNaturalist database. So if you have previously recorded one of these, such as the Red Ringer, Brown Firetail or Wavering Firetail, you can update your observations! If not, then it's great motivation to try and find one this season!!

You can access and read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.71.2019.1720

GOOO!?!?! Some exciting things are brewing... Please read on!

The cicada season is almost upon us. Or has it already started?? There was a report of a Silver Princess (Yoyetta celis) calling in Inner West Sydney today with still a full week of winter to go. Absolutely crazy. An effect of climate change or perhaps a more male that misread the weather report? In Sydney today it was a full 7°C warmer than the long-term average!

We are about to embark on this project's 5th season! I might just have to bake a cake for it because I didn't expect this when I first created the project. I have seen the interest in cicada rise to new heights. There has been an amazing response by so many people, and I am quite humbled to know that so many people love cicadas!

During the "off-season", we have started to analyse the data over the past four seasons and there are some neat trends starting to emerge. We are seeing latitudinal trends in different cicada species, and some species are more likely to be observed on native plant species, while there are a few cicada species that are frequently observed on exotic plant species. Over the four seasons, the most commonly reported plant genus with a cicada observed is Eucalyptus, followed by Callistemon and Melaleuca. Possibly no surprises there! We are continuing to write up these and other data for publication.

I have also been hard at work at writing the 2nd edition for my book, "A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney Region". Building on the great response and helpful feedback, this upcoming edition will be a lot more comprehensive in terms of information. At the same time it will be in an easy to understand format with more than 40 species included!!

In order to make a more complete field photo guide book, I am calling for anyone who is willing to send me photos of cicadas they have captured in the field. I will be combining several of these "field photos" with my "studio" macro shots that show details and colours up close. If you have any photos are are happy to send them to me for possible inclusion in the upcoming book, please send them to me at nathan@cicadarama.com. All images used will have photo credit.

And finally on that note, last year we launched Cicadarama on social media as a platform for talking and sharing anything cicadas! Feel free to follow us at www.facebook.com/cicadarama

Let me start this post by reflecting on what was a massive season for cicadas in NSW and other eastern states and territories. That was also reflected in the observations recorded here in the project. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the project during the previous season. Give yourselves a pat on the back!

A few broad stats to digest from the season 2017/2018:

1. 1,347 observations between Sept 2017 and April 2018 which is more than the previous two seasons combined!
2. 55 new members signed up to the project this season.
3. Several species were recorded for the first time since this project began in 2015, most notably including the Cherrynose and Double Drummer.

Only four months until the next season! ;-)

We are currently working behind the scenes on the data with the aim to have it published and open-access. We held back on the data from the first year as we decided to wait to include multiple season data. We will keep you updated on this progress.

A few changes to the project here to mention. Firstly you may notice the project page looks very different! We have been entrusted by iNaturalist to become a "Collections Project". This means that this project will now have the capacity to automatically take in as many observations on the iNaturalist database as it can. Because of this, I have made some restrictions to the project. Notably, and unsurprisingly, observations will now only be added to this project if they taxonomically fall under the Cicadidae family (which includes all of the Australian cicadas species). This does mean however that if you don't know what the species is when you record it, it will need to be entered as "Typical cicadas" to be included initially. Geographically, observations will be included if they are from NSW (or ACT as well). This is now reflected in the Project title (as I have lifted the restriction on the Sydney Region). Depending on how the automatic observation intake goes now being a Collections Project, the geographical extent may be adjusted.

As always if you have any questions feel free to contact me at: nje.seed@gmail.com

We're not fully through the third season but we have recently hit the 2,000 observation mark for this project! WOW!

A big thanks to everyone who has contributed so far to the project. I cannot stress how important it is to collect observations over multiple seasons.

These observations are important data for us to understand distribution and emergence patterns around the Greater Sydney Region, as well as understanding a bit more about cicada-plant interactions and preferences, particularly around more urban areas.

We're not through with the 2017/18 season, however. There are still quite a few species calling around the region. February and March are looking like keeping the good season going.

And don't forget you can still order copies of my Sydney cicada photo guide on eBay here: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122908078250

We have also recently launched a website for our cicada project: "Cicadarama" (www.cicadarama.com), of which the Great Cicada Blitz project falls under. The website is still a Work in Progress, but you can we have some exciting things in development! We also have links on the site to the photo guide book and some neat cicada merch. All funds go towards our cicada research and the development of new resources!

If you live in Sydney then tomorrow morning (before midday) is the final chance for you to order my photo guide book on eBay and have it safely arriving before Christmas.

Order your copy here: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122908078250

The book will continue to be available and I will continue to post copies ordered in the new year :)

Have a wonderful and safe holiday season! And don't forget to record your local noisy invertebrates!!!

Good news! You can now upload audio files from your device onto the iNaturalist observation. It's still a little bit of a process but you no longer need to upload to SoundCloud, which is a big bonus.

To upload a recording to your observation, you first need to load the iNaturalist website on your phone's web browser. Once loaded you need to go into the browser menu and select "request desktop site". Then navigate to your observation and select "edit" up the top right of the screen. On the edit screen, on the far right under the "Add Media" column, select the "Add Sounds" tab. Ensure the Source is set to "Your Computer", and then select "Browse". Navigate to where your audio file is on your phone and add it. Then hit "Save Observation" at the bottom of the screen.

As easy as that! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and we can troubleshoot.

We have made it out of the outside of a very dry winter here in Sydney. Plants have been putting on new growth early and flowering has well and truly begun! Several Silver Princess cicadas (Yoyetta celis) have been heard calling around Sydney's Inner West, central and south coasts over the past week.

So I thought it's a good idea to keep an ear or two out for cicada calls, and don't forget to list them on our iNaturalist Cicada Blitz project. It remains to be seen what sort of a season we will get this year, especially if it remains dry and the threat of a big bush fire season proves true or not.

A reminder that you can still purchase Cicada Photo Guide books on eBay here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122663502609 or search on eBay "cicada photo guide book". It is a handy educational guide to some of the common cicada species you might come across in the Greater Sydney Region. It will help you with identifying species for recording on iNaturalist. It's also a great gift for any budding entomologist!