dog-day cicada

Time Travel: Trail Until Rail

~ lmachayes ~ 6 Comments

Picture this: It’s 1888. You’re in a train car on what was once the Portland and Ogdensburg Railway (P&0), but is now leased by Maine Central (MEC) and renamed the Mountain Division Trail. You are making the journey from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to Portland, Maine, with a brief stop in Fryeburg, Maine.

Off the train you hop, and suddenly you find yourself wandering down the Mountain Division Trail in the year 2024. Only, it’s not the rail bed that you walk upon, but rather a paved path beside the tracks.

And you give thanks, because this is the season of doing such, though really we should do so every day, for the Mountain Division Alliance, formed in 1994, out of concern that the rail right of way would be lost. MEC had sold the line to Guilford Transportation in 1981, about twenty plus years after the demise of passenger service. About seven years later, freight service also ended.

In 1994, The Mountain Division Alliance, under the direction of Alix Hopkins, Director of Portland Trails, “brought people together from over 20 groups. Out of this group came the vision for a rail with trail connecting the nine communities [Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Gorham, Standish/Steep Falls, Baldwin, Hiram, Brownfield, and Fryeburg] along the rail corridor from Portland to Fryeburg.”

The Alliance was started to “convince the State of Maine to purchase the rail bed right-of-way. The vision that a bicycle and pedestrian trail could be built along the rail line connecting Fryeburg to Portland came about at this time [1994],” wrote Dave Kinsman, former president of the Mountain Division Alliance in an article published by The Brownfield Newsletter.

So back to going for a wander down the trail. I did such this afternoon, and it’s a path I love to follow at any time of year, because it offers such diversity so I hope you’ll not hop right back on the train just yet, but instead wander with me.

Some may see it as the land of dried up weeds and some trees, but oh my. There’s so much to see.

For starters, Black Locust trees, with their two-toned braided bark.

Dangling from the locust twigs are the “pea” pods that contain “bean-shaped” seeds ready to add another generation to the landscape.

And then there are the oaks, this being the blocky bark of White Oak, which is always a treat for because I have to travel to locate it.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but I LOVE White Oak leaves in their autumn/winter presentation. While they look like mittens with a thousand thumbs, it’s the salmony color and way that they dry on the twig as if they were caught in an awkward dance move that really captures me. Maybe because I can relate to those awkward movements, having never had a sense of rhythm.

Behold also, the White Oak’s cousin, Northern Red Oak, with its raised ridges offering ski slopes for those who dare, accentuated by the red in the furrows.

It’s like a perfect classroom along the Mountain Division Trail because the bristly lobed leaves of the Red Oak are so shiny in their shade of mahogany.

And not to be left out in this lesson: Bear Oak (aka Scrub Oak), growing in a more shrubby manner than the other two. It’s the leaves of this species that remind me who I’m meeting–notice how the second set of lobes from the stem are larger than any of the others.

In the mix of deciduous or broad-leafed trees are plenty of conifers, including those we encounter often in this neck of the woods from White Pines to Eastern Hemlocks, and Spruce and Balsam Fir. But . . . there are a couple of standouts along the Mountain Division Trail such as this one with three needles in each bundle.

It’s those bundles of three, and the fact that occasionally a clump of needles grows directly out of the bark rather than on a twig that provide the clues for this species: Pitch Pine, three strikes and you are out. Get it? Baseball–pitch–three needles/bundle. I wish I could take credit for coming up with that mnemonic.

I promised more than one interesting conifer and tada. Only thing is, all the other conifers retain their leaves (needles) throughout the winter, thus giving them the name of Evergreens because they are forever green, even when they are shedding some needles.

This pyramid-shaped tree is the only deciduous conifer in Maine: the Tamarack (Larch and Hackmatack being its other common names).

Tamarack’s needles turn a golden yellow in autumn, and eventually all fall off. But, it’s a cone-bearing tree, thus it’s a conifer.

Picking up speed now, along the rail grows Great Fox-tail Grass, and its name seems a great descriptor.

Then there’s the Sweet Fern, which isn’t actually a fern for it has a woody stem, but what I love most about it in fall and winter is the way its leaves curl, each doing its own thing.

In a wetland, for the habitats vary along the way, Winterberry is now showing off its brilliant red berries. And the Robins are thrilled as are many other birds seeking fruit at this time of year.

Mullein, tall as it stands, has already spread many of its seeds as evidenced by the open pods.

And the same is true for the even taller Evening Primrose.

It’s the fruiting structures of both of these plants that make them beautiful standouts as winter weeds.

Aster seeds are slowly taking their own leave, one hairy parachute at a time.

But here’s the thing. Not all Asters have gone to seed and I was surprised to find several Calico Asters still flowering. Given that the past few days have been quite brisk, this didn’t make sense.

But the same was true for Yarrow.

And I saw a bunch of Blue-stemmed Goldenrods still blooming. While the Asters and Goldenrods flower late in the season, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, except that this past weekend’s wild rain and wind, and temps that felt more like November than we’ve experienced lately, made me question what I was seeing.

I was thrilled as I approached the airport end of the trail to find a few Dog-day Cicada exoskeletons still clinging to the underside of the fence railings. My, what large lobster-like claws you have, the better to dig yourself out of the ground when you are ready to emerge from your root-sap-sucking days to form wings, and fly away, and find a mate.

Because my imaginary train had let me off at Porter Road in Fryeburg, about halfway between the two ends of this four-mile route, I wandered and wondered for about two miles toward the airport end, located just beyond the mileage sign.

Portland: 47 miles away.

But it’s not all rail trail . . . yet.

As I looked across Rte 5, I imagined what will happen next. “A twelve-member Mountain Division Rail Use Advisory Council was created in June 2021 to study and review the 31 miles of state-owned, inactive rail line in order to make recommendations for its future use. Frequent meetings occurred . . . at which the civil engineering consulting firm, HNTB, ‘presented feasibility studies for future rail, rail with trail, and interim trail/bikeway use options and economic benefits. It was determined that restoring rail use would cost $60,000,000. For rail with trail, the cost would be $148,300,000. Removing the rails and building a trail until rail, which would keep the rail bed intact so the trail could return to rail if needed, wold cost $19,800,000. The final vote was 11 – 1 in favor of Trail Until Rail . . . After thirty years of work and thanks to the efforts of so many people, on July 6, 2023, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed LD404 into law, authorizing MaineDOT [Department of Transportation] to remove the railroad tracks and construct a 31-mile, multi-use trail until rail on the Mountain Division Rail Line between Fryeburg and Standish . . . Trail Until Rail means that this will be an interim trail because it can be pulled up and the tracks restored to rail should the return of train operations be economically viable. As stated on the alliance’s website: ‘Most major rail corridors are federally protected in perpetuity (that’s forever!). If the tracks ever need to go back in for train service, they will.'” ~ from my article Trail Until Rail: Mountain Division Trail Expansion in published Lake Living, Fall 2024, vol. 17, no. 2.

I turned around by Route 5 and followed the rail with trail back to my truck. Though I’m a hiker, wanderer in the woods by nature, the Mountain Division trail always amazes me with all that it has to offer and today was no different.

If all goes as intended, this 31-mile rail until trail project will be broken into six segments and within two years work will get underway to connect the airport end to this spot by the intersection on Route 160 in Brownfield.

Thanks for taking the time to travel with me today.

Thanks also to Terry Egan, vice president of the Mountain Division Alliance, and Andrew Walton, secretary of the organization, for walking a section of the trail with me several months ago and sharing their stories and visions of this asset to our area.

My Love Affair . . .

~ lmachayes 
I have no expectations
and only so much time
to take a walk 
along a nearby trail.
Hiding below a wooden rail,
An arachnid known as a Brown Harvestman rests.
Though spider-like, it's not, 
for its body is single segmented.
Curious to see
what else the posts may offer
I meet a slow-moving Yellow Bear caterpillar,
It's rusty-brown hairs warning me not to touch. 
A few feet away,
Whimsical with its brilliant red caps,
known as the apothecia or fruiting bodies, 
a British Soldier lichen protrudes with a pop of color. 
As I continue, one Harvestman 
becomes two, or three, resting below,
and the long legs of these Daddies
is all I can see.
And then by complete surprise,
Hunchbacked in its former nymphal form, 
with legs so stout and lobster-like claws,
I find a shed exuvia and my heart skips a beat. 
Like the Harvestmen, 
where there is one, there's another,
and I can only imagine
their watermelon tourmaline bodies slowly emerging.
It's when I spot a crawling creature
colored with vivid camouflage
and golden-veined wings,
I realize I've missed one of my favorite views of metamorphosis.
But still I am there to watch 
as the adult form reaches out, 
one muscular foot at at time,
as it walks first sideways and then skyward.
I know from experience
its tented wings will soon spread,
but worry it will meet the web beside it,
and rejoice when it instead finally flies into the forest. 
On this late summer day I find another,
and can only hope these Dog-day Cicadas
have time to sing their raspy love songs
that will continue the circle of life as they know it. 
A few more steps and I must backtrack,
for something large garners my attention,
its mottled pattern resembling the post 
upon which this Carolina Sphinx moth rests. 
A rustle and wing beats cause me to turn my gaze upward,
and I spot a Broad-winged Hawk landing,
and surveying the territory
for a consumable meal. 
Intently, it looks down,
and all around with ten times the focus of my sight,
those predator eyes fixed as they are,
it must turn its head to see.
As I move the telescopic lens
I begin to wonder if it thinks its a creature
and I must admit that I duck
when it flies off . . . first toward me before swerving.
All of these sights I spy
in the course of forty-five minutes
and maybe three quarters of a mile
along the Mountain Division Trail.

On this day, 
I develop a love affair
with the fence posts and all who gather there. 
Can you imagine if I'd gone any farther?

Consumed by Cicadas

~ lmachayes ~ 10 Comments

I walked into a cemetery, that place of last rites and rest, looking for life. It should have been a short visit, for finding life in such a location hardly seems possible, but . . . for two hours yesterday I stalked the the gravestones and today I returned to the same spot where I once again roamed, and then continued up the road to another that surprised me even more.

It seemed the Hutchins family was watching over the first little specks of my attention, keeping them safe at a most tender moment in their life cycle.

Upon the granite wall that surrounded the Hutchins plot, two small, but actually rather large in the insect world, nymphs crawled and paused, crawled and paused. And my heart sang as it does when I realize I’m in the right place at the right time.

Who are these land lobsters, for such do their claws remind me. Dog-Day Cicadas. They complete their life cycle in 1 – 3 years. As nymphs or larvae, they remain underground feeding on plant juices from tree roots. In July, the nymphs tunnel up through the ground and crawl onto tree trunks or other surfaces like gravestones, which they latch onto with those over-sized claws.

Tickled to see two who looked like they were about to burst into new life, I watched with intensity, noticing that this, the second one, had green wings forming. And really, its head was already emerging, for if you look closely, you’ll note a small set of brown eyes closer to its claws and the new eyes much larger and darker in color protruding.

Winged cicadas emerge from a slit along the back of the nymph’s exoskeleton.

Back to the first, you’ll notice the same is true. And do you see where the second cicada had that hint of green, this one is more rosy red in color.

I could say that within minutes I noticed more of the body bulging, giving the nymph a hunchback look, but this is a transformation that takes time. Lots. Of. Time. They begin the process by arching and expanding the thorax until the larval cuticle fractures and the adult’s thorax appears, soon, or sorta soon, followed by its head.

Ever so slowly . . .

the rest of the body . . .

comes to life.

Both red and green complete this process simultaneously as I squat and watch.

Eventually, legs and wings are visible. Do you see the proboscis, that elongated sucking mouthpart or stylet that is tubular and flexible, extending from its nose?

How about now?

As the abdomen extends, four wings take shape.

In continued slow motion, they begin to unfurl . . .

and the insect wiggles its legs . . .

ready to get a grip.

Next, it pumps insect blood into its body and wings, which takes even longer, as in hours. After the cuticle hardens for a while and muscles grow stronger, the cicada pulls itself out of its former self.

Before it can fly, those wings need to dry, some resembling a rainbow.

Teneral to start, a breeze creates an angelic quality befitting the setting.

In time, the wings will fold over the cicada’s back, but until that happens, the rose-version offers a lesson that not all Dog-Day Cicadas look like camouflaged leaves among which they sing–the tree-top males producing the droning whirr of a song we all associate with summer by using their tymbals or paired membranous structururs in their abdomens that vibrate through muscular action–it’s this song that attracts females.

Today, I visited yesterday’s cemetery and found not much action, but a few miles north it seemed the summer chorus was preparing to take in new members.


First, however, they had to finish donning their choir robes.

And as I’d noticed for the first time yesterday, not all robes are the same color. Variation apparently is normal among cicadas, which provide me a wonder-filled lesson.

My question is this: what determines color? It can’t be temperature as from the many I saw today and few yesterday, all emerged at about the same time. And it can’t be location, for they were all in the same locale.

In fact, some even morphed upon the same family plot corner stone, this being the Evans family in Center Lovell, and their transformation occurred within minutes of each other.

Then there was another question–if they were so close to each other in emergence, would they get along? I watched these two for a long time, and though they got quite close occasionally, they seemed rather territorial, using. a foot or tarsus to push the other away. That, of course, is my human interpretation of what I was observing. The reality may be different.

A few headstones away, another for the red variety.

There are other lessons, such as this–like dragonflies, some nymphs transform atop the discarded exuviae of their relatives.

And while I expect that they only climb a few feet off the ground to morph, I’m proven wrong when I have to use my warbler neck to spy at least two on branches high above. Do you see them? Are there others that I missed?

I have so many more questions, but pull myself away once again.

I do often wonder if my presence bothers then, but have to hope that they realize I’m there to protect them from predators and learn from them during this time of transition.

Note that the proboscis is tucked under their bodies, as it won’t be needed until these cicadas reach the tree tops. Once up there, where I won’t be able to spy them, males will produce the droning whirr of a song we all associate with summer by using their tymbals or paired membranous structures in  their abdomens that vibrate through muscular action–it’s this song that attracts females. After mating, the female lays her eggs in slits she makes in twigs. The young nymphs hatch, fall to the ground, burrow underground and feed on sap from roots for a year or two or three. 

And then the day I wait for happens and I once again roam places where I know I can find them, cemeteries being my place of choice, and I spend hours stalking one stone and then another and back to first and then the second, over and over again, consumed as I am by cicadas.

Resurrection

~ lmachayes ~ 8 Comments

I warned you that last week’s Cemetery Cicada Celebration would be revised. And so it was. Over and over again as is my custom.

But the thing is that last week I took part in a poetry workshop offered through Greater Lovell Land Trust by Poet Judith Steinbergh. The title of the workshop was “Caring for Our Earth and Waters.” Judy shared various poems with us through a remote gathering and asked us to read them aloud while thinking “about what we might visualize from the images, and how the sounds and form blend together with the image and feeling.”

She encouraged us to make notes and suggested some different approaches: speak to the subject; become the subject; instruct the reader; show feelings toward the subject. She even gave us some beginnings and endings that might inspire us to begin.

And then she concluded with “Poetry Revision Guidelines,” which included such practices as reading the poem aloud several times, questioning whether or not the opening was strong enough, maintaining focus, creating images the reader could visualize, using tight language, finding a rhythm, helping the reader gain insight, and providing appropriate breaks.

We had one week to write a poem, submit it to Judy for comments, and then the big night would come: The Reading.

Just as it’s scary to publish in this blog manner or via Lake Living magazine and other avenues I’ve used over the years, it’s equally terrifying to read aloud–especially when you can see yourself on the computer screen.

But that’s what some of us did the other night for the remote Poetry Reading and you can watch and listen in: GLLT Poetry Reading 2020

My original subject was a pine tree, but after watching the magical emergence of cicadas last week, I knew I had to write about that experience. Figuring out the angle was much more difficult and I tried a variety of avenues. In the end, I chose a style that works best for me, teaching through imagery.

It’s not a done deal, mind you, for it is my belief that there is no such thing as a final draft. OK, so that’s my default in case you don’t think this works or have suggestions to improve my attempt. All comments are welcome. It’s only a draft and I haven’t written 18 drafts yet as I often do with an article. I’m at 7 or 8. 

Resurrection
By Leigh Macmillen Hayes, 7/19/2020

To walk into a cemetery on a summer day
And find an insect metamorphosing upon a stone
I begin to understand the process of resurrection.

A life well spent questing sap for sustenance
Prepares to crawl free of its past
And reach for heavenly aspirations.

Through a tiny slit, a spirit no longer contained
Emerges head first as a teneral shape develops
with bulging eyes to view a new world.

Gradually, a pale tourmaline-colored body extends outward
With stained-glass wings unfurling
That provide baby steps toward freedom beyond.

I mourn the loss of your former soul
But give thanks for a peek at your upcoming ascension
From this place to the next.

It is not for me to know when you will first use the gift of flight
As I didn’t know when you would shed your old skin,
And I quickly offer a final goodbye when I see your wings spread.

I rejoice that I’ll spend the rest of the summer
Listening to your raspy love songs
Playing nature’s lullabies upon violin strings from above.

On this day, I celebrate the secrets of a cicada’s life,
Dying to the old ways and rising to new,
While I wander among the graves of others who have done the same.

To all who joined the Poetry Workshop or the Poetry Reading or wished they could, and especially to Judy Steinbergh, I dedicate this post. Thank you for sharing.

Celebrating Cemetery Cicadas

~ lmachayes ~ 11 Comments 
Beings who once walked the Earth
support new life as summer's serenade
begins to take shape 
upon stones that memorialize the past. 
Hunchbacked in nymphal form,
light brown crawlers move skyward
then cling by toes at tips of stout legs,
and new life emerges as their backs split open.
Bodies colored like watermelon tourmaline
showcase segmented abdomens and three pairs of legs.
While translucent wings slowly unfurl,
First steps are taken into freedom beyond. 
Leaving behind sheds of its underground life,
wings grow longer minute by minute.
Exquisite beauty at this teneral stage
forces awe to reach a crescendo.
Venation demarks cloudy glass windows
gilded in emerald and bronze.
I stare in awe, and then gaze about,
for others have also crawled up from the ground. 
Young Elden's grave stone provides the next sighting
of a discarded exuvia with an adult form above.
For several hours this insect paused
as blood pumped and its body transformed.
Contrasted against the pastel colors it once donned,
vivid camouflage will serve it well in tree tops.
Golden veins upon the elder's wings
fill my soul with admiration.
I'm forced to stand guard and dote 
for at last the ascension begins.
I suddenly realize all who enter here
must rise toward the heavens or at least the tree tops.
One muscular foot in front, five others follow,
all part of instinct beyond my understanding.
No other is there to offer guidance or to mimic,
it's all pure instilled knowledge from beginning to end.
With the summit now a certainty, 
I take time to quickly note intricate patterns.
Upon the upper thorax I see
the face of an owl bedecked in bow tie.
It is not for me to know when tented wings
will spread into flight and off he'll go. 
Without notice, a quick flap,
and he disappears into tree tops thither.
A few more hours must pass
before the younger insect can fly off likewise. 
New adventures await filled with raspy love songs
meant to continue the cycle of life.
On this summer day, hollow cast(ket)s left behind
provide a memory of vulnerable forms.
From soft pastel bodies to wide-faced creatures with bulging eyes,
I get to celebrate cemetery cicadas.

Default: This is a work in progress. I’ve written a bunch of drafts, but it’s not quite there yet, so dear reader, you may see a revision at a later date.

The Secrets of Life Found Among the Dead

~ lmachayes ~ 2 Comments

Dear Mr. Charles,

In 1882 you passed
from this life to the next,

but it appears
that your story
didn’t end there.

Today was the day
that in your nymph stage,
you chose
to emerge
from your underground burrow
where the sap
of plant roots
had sustained you
for several years.

While I walked about
and noticed
other forms of life
taking place within
the fenced land,

such as Robberflies
canoodling in their
tail-to-tail fashion,

and a Chipmunk
who made me think
the dead were walking
until I saw it
checking on me,

I also spotted
the larval skins
left behind by
many of your kin

who had chosen
a nearby tree trunk
and surrounding ground
for such a transformation.

Their thickened legs
spoke of the digging
your species endures
while in that
subterranean habitat.

You, however,
preferred your stone
for metamorphosis.

Ever so slowly
through a split
along your back,

your body,
pale-colored at first,
extended outward.

Large and chunky
with bulbous,
yet beady eyes,

and long,
thick-veined
and translucent wings,

you looked like
something out
of a sci-fi movie.

Hues of salmon.
pale green.
and aquamarine.

At first
your coloration
reminded me
of a pastel painting,

but over time
it became apparent
that your palette
changed with maturity

and eventually
looked more like
a camouflaged adult
who will spend time
in the nearby tree.

Left behind
was an empty shell
of your former self.

Our time together
came to an end
after periodic checks
over the course
of three hours.
I suspect by now
you’ve flown
to a tree
in search
of a mate.
The resulting eggs
will be laid
on a branch,
and your story
will come
to an end
once again,
Mr. Charles.
But never fear,
for the next generation
will carry on
the circle of life
as the larvae hatch
and fall to the ground,
where they’ll burrow
into the earth beneath
or somewhere very near
your resting place
before resurfacing
as young nymphs
ready as you were
to burst forth from
their exoskeletons
three years from now.

Thank you
for allowing me
to watch
on this day
as you shared
the secrets of
a Cicada’s life
while I wandered
among the dead

.