Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Cicadas in Lakeside?


Dab

Recommended Posts

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

  • Thanks 1
  • Confused 1
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 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.......

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Chicadas.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...