Cicadas.

eagles9999, Feb 26, 8:13am
Maybe I shouldnt open my mouth but havent heard any this year.Normally we are blown away by their noise thru Jan and Feb, but this year just the birds can be heard. Have seen the odd one or two. Do you think its because ofthe very long dry spell
rpvr, Feb 26, 8:17am
They are here in Auckland in reasonable numbers but not as many as some years. They were late arriving and the noise only really started about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Don't know how they behave down your way, but they can go on until the end of March up here if it stays warm.
koru67, Feb 26, 8:18am
In our part of AK I have only noticed/heard them in the last couple of weeks, and they are very fresh hatchlings as a few are still green when I have seen them.
kevymtnz, Feb 26, 8:26am
lack of rain keeps them at bay due to the ground being to hard to dig out = yay
there is the od few now here at the Mount
kp11, Feb 26, 8:27am
Loads of them out west auckland happily chirping away :)
wheelz, Feb 26, 11:14am
My dog lioves catching and eating them!
black-dahlia, Feb 26, 12:43pm
they are all you here around here day and night
maclad, Feb 26, 4:40pm
Plenty here in Tauranga
hanmer, Feb 26, 8:12pm
the minute it rains, they'll be rearing to go.
vickyh1, Feb 27, 11:52am
We had a few but they seem to have quietened down. I've seen quite a number just dead on the ground or in spider webs, sadly.

Fortunately the dry seems to have kept the crickets under control. I love their sound at night but not so much when they get inside, and eat things they shouldn't.
eagles9999, Feb 27, 8:58pm
Was watching a TV interview last night and wondered what all the static was.It was the cicadas making their own point in this outside interview. What a dumb thinbg to do - conduct an interview outside with an accompaniment of cicadas.
venna2, Feb 27, 9:26pm
I'm in Wellington and have seen/heard very few as yet. Could be the dry weather as someone said above. And also, I think they take a long time to incubate or whatever they do underground, so probably there are more some years than others.
venna2, Feb 27, 9:27pm
I agree!
schnauzer11, Feb 28, 2:32am
They've been zithering their hearts out here in Hoon Hay,but I admit they were quite late.
brucet3, Feb 28, 3:59am
There are different species that are different colours, sizes and I presume come out at different points in the summer.
I think the small ones are much earlier than the big noisy guys.
But all of them spend years under the ground and come out for one quick round of sex before they die. So numbers could vary for other reasons like a bad year some time ago.
mottly, Mar 28, 10:50pm
the big guys have just started hatching in the last 10 days or so on the Coromandel.had the little guys around since xmas.