
The Cicada though is not so nice to look at, it being a sizable bug.

Most cicadas have a 2 to 5 year life cycle, but some such as the Magicicada larvae stay underground for 13 or 17 years as an adaptation to avoid predators such as the Cicada Killer Wasp and Praying Mantis. Such predators cannot regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas as 13 and 17 are indivisible prime numbers. So a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a three or five-year life cycle, but the 13 and 17 year cicadas do not allow the predators to fall into step. Neat eh? The larvae know the exact number of years elapsed by counting the rise and fall of sap in underground plant stems.




Although not good quality I quite like this shot of a Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt feeding in company, which evokes the spirit of this super Reserve.