Dab Posted April 24, 2021 Report Share Posted April 24, 2021 I've been hearing what seems to be a chorus of cicadas from time to time. Have they hatched out here in large numbers yet? The Unites States is expecting "plague" of them this summer, starting on the East coast and moving West. Can anyone confirm that the hatch-out of cicadas has happened in our area already? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostlylost Posted April 24, 2021 Report Share Posted April 24, 2021 Here we refer to them as rainbirds. Normally they emerge in quantity mid to late May. When you hear them we say the rain is due in 3 weeks. One landed in my pool this week, but never made a sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedros Posted April 24, 2021 Report Share Posted April 24, 2021 A neighbour reports hearing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artsnob Posted April 24, 2021 Report Share Posted April 24, 2021 I also have been hearing them, Or maybe it is the ringing in my Eares... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donenrique Posted April 24, 2021 Report Share Posted April 24, 2021 The "brood x" cicadas in the US is a 17-year cycle emergence and will only do so in the NE states up north. The rainbirds here are yearly and different. Their sound is like a high-pitched electrical hum (if that makes any sense). Haven't heard them yet here in upper Ajijic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 I've always noticed that a few of them jump the gun. I have this mental picture of some young cicada starting their sound and the parents saying, "No! Not yet! It's too early. You wait until we tell you it's time." So why when someone refers to them as what they really are, do people here feel the need to tell them that "We call them rainbirds"? I have never, in my 18 years in Mexico, ever heard anyone call them rainbirds except on Lakeside forums. Why would you call an insect a bird? Do you call horses cows? 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dichosalocura Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 Mudgirl, rainbirds is just a term that expats on Lake Chapala use to refer to cicadas since they seem to call weeks before the rainy season. As if beackoning the arrival of the summer rains. And as the rains begin they mostly go silent till the following season. The locals in Spanish just call them cigarras. They laugh when I tell them that many gringos in Chapala refer to them as los pájaros de lluvia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex45920 Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 I usually hear "chicharra." The Word Reference dictionary says both are correct. The Mexican language is very dialectic. The expats seem to have their own dialect as well. Our local chicharras have a different breeding cycle than those up north. They spend eight years in the ground, emerge, breed and die. A different subgroup emerges once every eight years. I think the rain actually drowns them...you can hear the desperation of their whistling intensify as the rainy season nears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 1 hour ago, dichosalocura said: Mudgirl, rainbirds is just a term that expats on Lake Chapala use to refer to cicadas since they seem to call weeks before the rainy season. As if beackoning the arrival of the summer rains. And as the rains begin they mostly go silent till the following season. Yes, I am well aware of what cicadas are and do, I have lived where they are prolific for 18 years. My question was why when someone refers to them as cicadas, which is what they are, people in this board find it necessary to tell them that they are called rainbirds where you live, even though they aren't birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johanson Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 I'm a snowbird, and aint no one ever called me a cicida. 🤑 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dichosalocura Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 It is just a cutesy term that we Lakesiders have adopted, because here they seem slightly different than the ones NOB that tend to scream all summer. You don't even live here why would it bother you if many expats choose to call them by a term that is known only to Lake Chapala? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dichosalocura Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 And Mudgirl I wasn't explaining to you the nature of cicadas, I was explaining the behavior and maybe some local lore about the cicadas here at Lake Chapala. Because back home in North Carolina our local cicadas were never thought of as calling for or predicting the rains, they tended to squelch all freaking summer, unlike here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudgirl Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 The cicadas here in Sayulita are exactly like the cicadas Lakeside. They start their siren song about 3 weeks before the rains start and screech all rainy season in the early evening. So that's the cicadas I am used to, I never lived anywhere before where there were any. But I know you were just thinking I didn't know, so thanks for taking the time to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dichosalocura Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 When our rainy season starts up most of our cicadas go silent except for the odd ball rebel that didn't get the memo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedros Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 On 4/24/2021 at 9:55 PM, mudgirl said: Yes, I am well aware of what cicadas are and do, I have lived where they are prolific for 18 years. My question was why when someone refers to them as cicadas, which is what they are, people in this board find it necessary to tell them that they are called rainbirds where you live, even though they aren't birds. Because that is what they are called locally by the gringos. They make their noise more or less a certain period before the rainy season starts. Nothing more. Of course they aren't birds but they fly. They are a precursor to the rainy season. There mating noises can be very loud-like a buzz saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xena Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 9 hours ago, mudgirl said: Yes, I am well aware of what cicadas are and do, I have lived where they are prolific for 18 years. My question was why when someone refers to them as cicadas, which is what they are, people in this board find it necessary to tell them that they are called rainbirds where you live, even though they aren't birds. Maybe because when they first moved here someone told them the story and they found it to be an interesting, quirky, part of local lore. The fact that these are insects and not birds but are called birds is the quirkiest part of the story. They share it because it is part of this place, their experience of living here. What I don’t understand is why this silly, quirky, local story that amuses most people annoys you so much. 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeside7 Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 11 hours ago, mudgirl said: Yes, I am well aware of what cicadas are and do, I have lived where they are prolific for 18 years. My question was why when someone refers to them as cicadas, which is what they are, people in this board find it necessary to tell them that they are called rainbirds where you live, even though they aren't birds. Sounds like a broken record, but your reply maybe clarifies the distinction for newbies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johanson Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 13 hours ago, dichosalocura said: It is just a cutesy term that we Lakesiders have adopted, because here they seem slightly different than the ones NOB that tend to scream all summer. You don't even live here why would it bother you if many expats choose to call them by a term that is known only to Lake Chapala? Yes I do. I bought my home in 1997 in upper Ajijic. I will be back Tuesday. I was up north getting my two Pfizer shots. And it took a little longer than planned. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostlylost Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 Here on the ribera de Chapala expatriates have been calling cicadas rainbirds for more than 40 years that I know of (they are not birds). Some Canadians call electricity hydro (it is not hydraulic) Mexicans in this area call electricity luz (it is not light) Albaniles in the Chapala refer to an electric cutting tool as a grillo (cricket) which it is not. People lakeside refer to any foreigner as a gringo (many do not fit the definition of gringo) My sister in law... everybody calls her flaca which she hasn't been for 50 years. I am referred to as anciano .. well that could be correct. So yes when the rainbirds sing the rain is 3 weeks away. No they are not birds. No they are not rain. No they don't sing ,, so what....... 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLIN Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 I'm curious, does anybody eat them? You go first is not an acceptable answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostlylost Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 9 minutes ago, CHILLIN said: I'm curious, does anybody eat them? You go first is not an acceptable answer! Cicadas are often compared to shellfish, since they’re in the same family. (Jeopardy answer: What are arthropods? ALSO: DO NOT EAT THESE IF YOU’RE ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH.) So think of the lil’ guys as “shrimp of the land” and cook thusly. Just give them a little rinse; there’s no need to de-wing or de-leg, unless those bits freak you out. In which case, you do realize you’re eating cicadas, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whipstock Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 47 minutes ago, Mostlylost said: ,........Some Canadians call electricity hydro (it is not hydraulic),......... Hydro is short for hydropower (or hydroelectric), 12% of Mexican electricity is from Hydro; https://www.hydropower.org/country-profiles/mexico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLIN Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 And B.C. Hydro is a very famous hydroponically grown strain of Cannabis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedros Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 1 hour ago, Mostlylost said: Here on the ribera de Chapala expatriates have been calling cicadas rainbirds for more than 40 years that I know of (they are not birds). Some Canadians call electricity hydro (it is not hydraulic) Mexicans in this area call electricity luz (it is not light) Albaniles in the Chapala refer to an electric cutting tool as a grillo (cricket) which it is not. People lakeside refer to any foreigner as a gringo (many do not fit the definition of gringo) My sister in law... everybody calls her flaca which she hasn't been for 50 years. I am referred to as anciano .. well that could be correct. So yes when the rainbirds sing the rain is 3 weeks away. No they are not birds. No they are not rain. No they don't sing ,, so what....... Yes, Canadians call electricity, hydro as most of the electricity used to be produced by hydro (water and gravity) power. Hydro is the greek word for water. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slainte39 Posted April 25, 2021 Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 39 minutes ago, Whipstock said: Hydro is short for hydropower (or hydroelectric), 12% of Mexican electricity is from Hydro; https://www.hydropower.org/country-profiles/mexico That´s what I thought too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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