Joe and Mary Ann McDonald's

Wildlife Photography

Every summer the annual cicadas emerge from their subterrean burrows to climb trees, fence posts, and shrubs where they split their nymphal exoskeleton and, in an hour's long process, metamorphosis into the adult, winged form. This summer in various parts of the eastern United States the 17 year cicada emerged in the millions, but unfortunately they did not emerge in our immediate area.

Today, just hours after I write this, I picked up the nymph of an annual cicada I spotted as Mary and I went for a morning walk. Knowing that the nymphs are only above ground when they're about to undergo their final metamorphosis, and hearing the songs of other cicadas, I knew a metamorphosis was imminent. So I held on to the cicada and brought it home.

On our front porch I planted a section of log into a bucket for the nymph to climb up and placed the insect in the bucket. I checked it periodically, and after about an hour the nymph had climbed up the log and begun its change to the adult form. Over the next two or three hours I periodically snapped shots as the adult emerged, using a Canon Twin Light Macro Flash system and Wimberley macro flash modules to position my lighting.

The tip: Had I been lazy, I'd have simply placed the insect to the side of the road and went on. Instead, I took advantage of the opportunity and obtained some spectacular images.