[Below are a selection of articles from Mr. Case's weekly column, 'A Natural Conversation.']

It's Not Quite War of the Worlds....

This past week, I went to see the remake of War of the Worlds. In case you haven't seen the movie, the premise is simple: aliens from another planet buried machines underground on Earth a VERY long time ago. They waited till the time was right and then came back to Earth and started conquest.

About two weeks ago, I started getting phone calls from people asking what can they do about the “locust shells” all over their homes and trees. We started seeing them almost the same day the movie came to the theater!

The insect that people often call “locusts” are actually called cicada. There are about 9 species that live in North Carolina. The constant “hum” you hear from the trees during this time of summer arethe cicada making their mating call. The hum is caused from a pair of organs on the abdomen of the adult.

Although the hum can be loud at times, it is a very important sound for many of our songbirds. Robins, Jays and other songbirds that depend upon insects to live, listen intently for the cicada call. These large insects (from 1 ½ inches to 3 inches, depending upon species) are very juicy and meaty. Birds, bats and other insectivore animals feast this time of year upon the invading cicada. The cicada survival is dependent upon numbers. Millions of adults emerge to mate with the hope that a fraction does not get eaten and the species can survive.

Once the adults mate, the female finds a fresh branch, crawls to the bottom side of the branch and makes a slit about 3 inches long. Then, she deposits her eggs and goes off to die. The tree tries to heal itself by growing bark over the slit and sealing in the eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae feed off the inside bark a short time and become nymphs. The nymphs then fall to the ground and burrow to find roots. There, the nymph suck juices from the tree roots for 2-17 years, depending upon the species.

Once the cicada has lived its life undergoing, the nymph crawls up the side of a tree, down spout, building, anything it can find and makes one more change. The process of changing from one form to another is called metamorphosis (Greek for “to change form”). The final change is into an adult and they start the cycle all over again.

Are cicada dangerous? Not really. Some cultures in the world use insects like the cicada for food. Our wild animals depend upon them for “fattening up” for a long winter. We would not have many of the creatures that we often think of for the “cute ones” without cicada. Owls, foxes, bears, bats, robins, jays, and more!

Are they annoying? Well, to many landscapers, orchards and tree lovers, yes. The damage from the adult female laying eggs can cause serious damage when they large swarms appear, but the trees usually survive.

What can you do? Sit back, pick up your favorite book and a cool drink, listen to the intricate sounds of the different species and enjoy. If you are like me, it is a great sound to take a nap. Speaking of nap.....

Why Do Fireflies Light Up?

Fireflies or Lightning Bugs produce light from their abdomen from a bio-chemical reaction. That means, their back end lights up from chemicals in their bodies. As air comes into the abdomen, it reacts with certain chemicals making the glow. Soon, the air is exhausted and the glow fades.

The male lightning bugs fly around flashing trying to attract a mate. When a female sees a pattern that she likes, she flashes back and starts a conversation by lights.

Sometimes it seems that the lightning bugs flash faster than other times. There are two reasons. First is species. There are several species of lightning bugs in our area. Each species mates at different times of the year and their flashing patterns are all different. The second it temperature. The warmer the air, the faster lightning bugs flash. Some species will flash in unison to confuse predators. This spectacular light show is not common, and a treat to see.

Lightning bug larvae glow as well. They crawl along the forest floor, under bark or in the leaves eating. Larvae do not control their flashing as well as the adults, so it sometimes looks like a constant glowing pattern.

Now for my favorite reason: a Shawnee Indian Story. Long ago when the world was young, one of the smallest stars in the sky loved our planet. During the day, the blue ocean and green forests accented with the white clouds made the star so happy. But at night, the darkness made the star sad. The star could not see anything while he shown during the darkness.

So, the little star had an idea. “I'll go down there during the night and light up the land so everyone can enjoy the colors all the time!” The next night, the star started the trip down. However, the little star forgot to hold on to the sky and started to fall. Faster and faster the star fell. Finally, the little star hit the ground with such might, it broke into thousands of glittering specks. The star blinked to it's family in the sky trying to get help.

A bug found one of the flashing specks and thought it was beautiful and placed it on it's back. Once the other bugs saw the flashing light, they covered the land to find one for themselves. Soon, all the pieces of the star were on bug's backs. This is how the lightning bugs came to be.

Where Did the Geese Come From?

This spring, the Woodmen Camp was adopted by a pair of Giant Canada Geese. They arrived in early March and made a nest. The female laid three sets of eggs before she was able to get them to hatch. Six goslings hatched and now three survive.

For the past couple weeks, I have been asked “Where did the geese come from?” The campers enjoy seeing the geese and watch them move about as a family. The three goslings travel between the parents and learn more each day what to eat and what not.

Up until the early 1960's, Giant Canada Geese were thought to be extinct. Over-hunting and wetland destruction in the midwest plains states drove the geese to near elimination. A few small clutches of geese were found. The Canada Goose has been reintroduced into various parts of the midwest and have migrated east in the US and north into Canada. The Giant Canada Goose is the largest waterfowl next to swans.

When they travel, they go in family units. The parents will stay with the young until the next spring. The female will typically lay between 4-7 eggs and solely keep the eggs warm and turn them often. The male is always nearby and zealously guards his mate. Usually, they make nest at the edge of water or in heavy brush and cattails, in sight of water. After the goslings hatch, they are led to water within a day. Also, once the babies hatch, the male changes his attitude and welcomes other geese and forms communities. As geese land at the water, you can watch family units land together and separately from the flock.

Canada Geese are the most social of the wild birds. Very tolerant of humans, they will often take residence at golf courses, parks, vacant lots where water can be found, and even summer camps! Canada Geese do not mind begging for food and will often learn certain people's voices and come looking for food from frequent feeders.

Less predators and no hunting in the urban areas have allowed the Canada Goose to make a great comeback from near extinction. Although they are quite dirty birds by our standards by leaving droppings EVERYWHERE, the majority of people enjoy watching them and listening to their calls. Canada Geese are very vocal creatures and have amazing body language.

So, where did we get our geese? We got our geese from helping a species that was nearly extinct. We got them by providing the habitat they needed to flourish. They found our pond and camp so peaceful, and the campers a pleasure to be around, they adopted us. It is amazing what we can do to help animals if we remember that they need space as well as we.

Mark H. Case, Sr., CCD, CEE is the director at the Woodmen Camp in Randleman, NC. The camp is one of the North Carolina Environmental Education Centers. Mark is a certified camp director and a certified environmental educator and has been working in this field for 23 years. Mark is available for speaking engagements and welcomes your questions about nature each week. He can be reached at WoodmenCamp@aol.com