core aeration of your lawn

Anonymous wrote:there are different broods of cicadas. I saw a dog cicada outside of my house today. Some years have giant broods but that doesn't mean the other years have zero.

+1. I have seen dead ones here in MoCo. Different ones than the ones you are thinking of OP.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now I feel dumb. I've always heard that cicadas only come around every 13 or 17 years or so. But is that actually true? Didn't they just emerge in DC 2 or 3 years ago? So if what's making the holes are cicadas does that mean they emerge more often? Beyond a wiki page, where can read a reliable summary? Thank you.

They live underground feeding on sap from roots for about 12 years for many species, then after 12 years they emerge, molt, fly and mate and die off.

Just because their lifespan is 12 years doesn't mean they come in waves every 12 years. If there is an abundant crop hatched out, then in 12 years they will have a larger than normal season. "Boomers" Same as humans, and all species of life.

Take a shovel & dig out the holes & see what emerges (then run !).

Do you have a ring doorbell camera? Our ring cameras caught squirrels tearing up our yard. They tore up big sections of grass and then made holes to bury things. Doesn’t sound like what you have but a simple camera would catch it to tell you.

there are different broods of cicadas. I saw a dog cicada outside of my house today. Some years have giant broods but that doesn't mean the other years have zero.

OP here. Now I feel dumb. I've always heard that cicadas only come around every 13 or 17 years or so. But is that actually true? Didn't they just emerge in DC 2 or 3 years ago? So if what's making the holes are cicadas does that mean they emerge more often? Beyond a wiki page, where can read a reliable summary? Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:PP. But your holes are small...if in spring it might be cicadas. In fall, there is a burrowing cicada eating wasp that might be making burrows.

If you did a lot of clearing, disturbing a rodent seems pretty likely.

This. Those are clean holes about .75 to 1 inch in diameter, with no mounded dirt by them.

Thanks for the leads, everyone. I wish I had one of those time lapse cameras so I could stake out one of the holes to see what emerges.

Your measurements seem a bit small for voles.

It could be ground bees

PP. But your holes are small...if in spring it might be cicadas. In fall, there is a burrowing cicada eating wasp that might be making burrows.

If you did a lot of clearing, disturbing a rodent seems pretty likely.

Oh wow, PP, that could definitely be it. That is what the holes look like! Thanks for pointing me in a direction.

Voles?

https://www.gardendesign.com/how-to/voles.html#:~:text=HOW%20TO%20IDENTIFY%20VOLE%20DAMAGE,and%20voles%20become%20more%20active.

I spent the weekend clearing out my overgrown front yard. I live in a row house. The yard is around 20'x30'. I discovered a handful of small holes that definitely seem like they were likely made by a creature. They are about 1/2" to 1" in diameter. No excavation mounds next to them. The yard slopes down about 3 feet to the sidewalk and most of the holes are in that slope, so something burrowing in from the side, rather than straight down. I was sufficiently freaked out worrying about rats and mice or even snakes. I put dirt and small twigs down each hole to fill and block them. When I got home from work today I discovered several new holes (1/2") that appeared since yesterday....so whatever is living down there, they were creating new holes. My skin is crawling worrying about what this is. Any suggestions or websites or you tube videos that I should watch to figure it out? Thanks.