Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/503877.html

That link will take you to the latest rundown of where the locusts are as of this moment, 20:23 Saturday night, november 20.

Locusts - those menaces - one of the 10 Plagues
edible according to kosher dietary laws (yum)
& can scalp a field of its crops in a flash of an eye

ever been close up to a cloud of locusts? here's your chance...wonder if there's a locust webcam...

here's the current weather map:




The locusts are now near Mitzpe Ramon, travelling north. My kibbutz is just east of Gaza. With luck they'll veer east.

judih

edited to add pertinent info.

...too cool judih....we had our cicadas here this past spring and they were a riot and really harmless, all kinds of dishes were invented in their honor.....nice to see where you are located in the gaza.................mark

Wireman, they are NOT cool ... !! Not if they are destroying YOUR crops and ruining your backyard. Cicadas are related but not at all the same thing.

Judih, are these the beautiful canary-yellow locusts that I have seen lately on the news?

I recently read a totally fascinating book on locusts by a scientist name Jeffrey Lockwood. He's probably out in your neighborhood (Israel)right now because he's made a special study of these insects. His book, "Locust" was published here this year, and it made great reading.

It was primarily about his research on the Rocky Mountain Locust, that scourged the crops of the United States in the 19th century and was unintentionally exterminated during its dormant phase around 1900. One gentleman once measured a swarm of locusts over Nebraska, using telegraph wires -- it was the size of four states!

Lockwood brings up some interesting pro and con arguments about extinction. If we hadn't killed off our locust population the U.S. might still be suffering from the same plagues you are experiencing right now. We would probably not be the breadbasket of the world, that's for sure!

Lockwood has a soft spot for the Rocky Mountain Locust and claims it is still alive in the Sierras (he implied this, anyways). I don't know whether to believe him.

As for eating, the locusts are VERY edible. Lockwood thinks they might taste a little like shrimp. He states that 200 pounds of locusts equals 273,000 calories, or 500 supreme pizzas, and that seeds and nuts don't even compare for protein value.

This book blew me away and I think if it is made available in Israel right now it is probably selling off the shelves.

These insects are terrible pests. People died of starvation and went mad in the 19th century because of them. I have to admire them anyways, because they have shown themselves to be worthy survivors. On the other hand, I am not living in them!

My sympathies to you and yours, Judih. When the weather gets cold, they begin to lay eggs ... that's the next phase. Perhaps then you can eradicate them.

oy vey, abcrystcats.

well, the planes are showering clouds of insecticides over them. What that will do the environment, hopefully, has been well computed.

yes, they're yellowish pink.
They came up from Egypt - so one imagines there'll be more where those came from.

4 states large! that must have been quite an ominous sight. Our little state is the size of a sneeze in comparison.

i'm not looking forward to meeting them in the night, specially if i'm biking through the fields.

will keep ya posted.

thanks for the comments, all

judih