As I’m putting the finishing touches on this month’s introduction, I can’t ignore the hums and chirps radiating from hotspot treetops around my neighborhood. Brood XIX cicadas are making their presence known.
Robin Conover photographed a freshly molted adult cicada, below left, its exoskeleton still light in color before it hardens. Below right is one of the first cicadas I found around my home, fully cured with familiar red eyes and a dark exoskeleton. They were sluggish in early May, but by now a walk through the yard stirs a mass of beating wings like I’m flushing a covey of miniature screaming quail.
May was an incredible month of natural wonder. In addition to the historic cicada emergence, many of us were treated to the northern lights in the South. Robin, of course, captured incredible images, and you can read about one of them on page 42.
Burgess Falls is another treasure in nature. Learn about the park near Sparta beginning on page 16. And Bill Carey’s history feature (page 28) highlights travel writers on the “See Tennessee” junket organized by the state in 1940 to generate publicity and cast Tennessee as a natural and entertainment destination.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Kirk
Editor, The Tennessee Magazine
