See Wild Ideas...the Podcast 10 for discussion of mobbing behavior how game theory strategies apply to the risk-benefit of smaller birds mobbing a predator.

Cicadas, Snake hybernaculua, prairie development and the xerothermic period, and what is a “natural area.”
There are at least several species of cicadas that are native to tall-grass prairies in the United States including species of the Genera: Cicadetta and Tibicen.  Definitions: Xerothermic period was a post-glacial interval in which the climate was both warmer and drier.