An early autumn?

By Doug Geed

No, it's not that certain parts of our Island are getting relief from this heat, but there are some places that LOOK like fall is coming because the leaves are turning brown.

The reason -- those pesky cicadas that bothered so many of us with their noise. As we told you about here on News 12 Long Island, this summer we experienced the emergence of the 17-year cicada, which last appeared in Nassau and Suffolk in 1991.

      Incredibly, they live as larva in the ground, feeding on the roots of grass and trees for 17 years before they emerge and start singing their chorus. They live only a few weeks, and before they die, the female buries her eggs inside the limbs of trees. They need soft bark, so they go for the very ends of tree branches. They actually make slits in the branches to lay their eggs -- slits that end up killing the tree limbs. Eventually, the leaves turn brown and fall off. The good news, it does no damage to the trees. By next spring, they grow new leaves as if nothing ever happened.

     You're most likely to see the effects if you drive along the William Floyd Parkway in Suffolk -- Exit 68 off the L-I-E. If you go north and head up into the Ridge area -- and past Brookhaven National Lab -- you'll see tall mighty oak trees with clumps of brown leaves. The lab's director of natural resources, who we interviewed for our story appearing on tonight's newscast, described it as huge Christmas trees with gold ornaments in the middle of summer. So if you're driving along that roadway and, like so many Long Islanders, get concerned about a disease or pesticide problem, don't be alarmed. It's just another example of how amazing Mother Nature can be. For more on cicadas, by the way, this website is considered the be-all and end-all site! http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/projects/cicada/cc.php