Cicada Photography

Last updated on 8 January 2025

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Not so much an adventure, but it happened here in Auckland, so I’m going with it.

Perhaps it’s because my home town doesn’t have as many, or perhaps it’s just because I didn’t notice before, but Auckland has a lot of cicadas. Seriously, they are everywhere. Or maybe it’s just the area we are now living in. Whatever the case is, there is never a time of day when you can’t hear the cicadas. On every tree there are cicada shells (they shed their outer skins, in case you weren’t aware), and of course this means it’s a lot of fun for kids.

When I was a kid (all those many years ago) we used to love finding the cicada shells on the trees and put them on our clothes. They have quite clingy feet things (you can tell I know my stuff, right?), so whatever you put them on, they stick and just hang out until you take them off. Competitions of how many cicada shells you could get on your t-shirt was always a holiday activity, and freaking people out by putting them in your hair and on your face was always amusing.

But I don’t do that anymore. Instead, I take pictures of them. Sorry if you’re not a bug person (neither am I), but just remember that these aren’t really bugs, just their skins. Okay…maybe that’s worse…

It’s amazing how close you can get to little bugs with a macro lens. There are so many details that are normally missed when you’re just walking by. I love it!