17 years in the making, this spring's cicada invasion generates early buzz

[BlueGin]

After hanging around underground for 17 years, billions of flying bugs known as cicadas are due to sweep over the East Coast starting sometime in the next month. And although it's too early to predict exactly where or when the brood will appear, this spring's emergence should rate as the most closely watched bug-out in history.

"For entomophobes, this is the season of despair. For the entomophiles, this is the season of joy," said University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp, using highfalutin terms for bug-haters and bug-lovers.


The outbreak is expected to start in the Carolinas in April or early May, and work its way up northward to Washington, Philadelphia and New York by early June. Some observers have already reported the first signs of the emergence. The timing depends on the weather: Cicadas dig "escape chimneys" up from the ground where they've been maturing for the past 17 years — and when the temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), that signals the insects to rise up, wriggle out of their shells, take wing and look for mates.

17 years in the making, this spring's cicada invasion generates early buzz - Cosmic Log

 

[TheOldSchool]

In VA we had different batch come around a while back and it was crazy. It's a pretty cool phenomenon.

 

[TheOldSchool]

In VA we had different batch come around a while back and it was crazy. It's a pretty cool phenomenon.

 

[MeBelle]

In VA we had different batch come around a while back and it was crazy. It's a pretty cool phenomenon.

It is awesome! As a city dweller in VA I probably didn't get as much brunt as rural dwellers.

Sidenote: Ever see a Water bug?

 

[Bill Angel]

I made this shot in Maryland during an earlier emergence of these critters. (17 years ago)

Cicadas

 

[editec]

I remember one summer in PA back in the 50s or maybe early 60s when the Cicadas were so bloody loud that sleeping was damned near impossible.

It was an extremely hot summer that year, and back then almost nobody has air conditioning so we couldn't close the windows.

Eventually exhaustion took over.

 

[BlueGin]

The cicadas we have in this part of the country look a little different. Not as colorful ,but they are noisy as heck. I was just wondering who the first person was to eat one and decide they tasted like asparagus and shrimp?

 

[Spoonman]

looks like i picked a bad time to plant a garden

 

[mamooth]

Had some Canadian visitors last year.

They asked me "How do you take that noise?"

I said "what noise?"

"That crazy loud alien spacecraft noise!"

<Pause> "Oh, the cicadas. You live here, you learn to mentally filter them out."

Cicadas are fun for cats, who will play cicada-hockey on the hardwood floor with live cicadas. Or they walk around with a live cicada in their mouth, and it surprises you when the cat goes "BUUUUUUUZZZZZZZ".

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dey's ugly an' noisy...

Mystery Cicada Swarms Emerge Across Maryland In 2017
May 16, 2017 - Cicadas are supposed to stick to a 13- or 17-year cycle, but swarms have emerged this spring. Why are they showing up across Maryland?

A deafening and somewhat nasty phenomenon that longtime Marylanders will recognize has popped up this spring. Cicadas, sometimes known as "17-year locusts," have emerged in big numbers in Columbia, Bowie, Annapolis, Rockville and College Park, as well as across Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia in the past week, says one expert. The bugs, which, in large numbers can do serious damage to young trees, shrubs and various crops, are always around. But huge broods of them occasionally hatch all at once, usually in 13-year and 17-year cycles. For reasons that scientists are still trying to determine, a brood of cicadas will hatch in off years, which is the case for Maryland and Virginia. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

According to The Gardener's Network, a 17-year brood known as Brood VI hatched last month in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. But Michael Raupp, a University of Maryland entomologist known as The Bug Guy, writes on his latest blog that what experts call "periodical" cicadas may be part of Brood VI, which hatched in 2004 in Maryland, or they could also be an early wave of Brood X, which is due to hatch in 2021. Theories on the mysterious appearance of the bugs clinging to trees and leaving exoskeleton shells everywhere includes a link to climate change, Raupp said. The numbers of cicadas out in Maryland is expected to increase as temperatures rise close to 90 degrees this week. “We don’t know exactly why this happens. All we know is that it does happen,” Raupp told WTOP.

With temperatures climbing this week, "the entire DMV region should be rocking with these teenagers by next weekend," Raupp says. "So, grab a flashlight and look for a cicada jail break at night, and by day watch the antics of these amazing creatures as the big boy band cranks up in the treetops." The early visit by Brood X is known as acceleration, he says, when a portion of a cicada brood emerges years in advance of the "billions of cicadas comprising the bulk of their ginormous synchronous brood," Raupp writes.

In 2016, periodical cicadas in some areas hit densities of 1.5 million insects per acre, according to the Washington Post. Fortunately, the adult life span of a cicada is short. The young nymphs often land on trees to shed their skin and become adults. After that, they spend only about four to six weeks above ground before dying. Contrary to popular belief, adult cicadas do not eat the vegetation that comes into their path. Rather, adult females cut slits into twigs and small branches to lay their eggs. The eggs hatch, creating tiny nymphs, which fall to the ground and burrow, feeding on underground tree roots for years until it's their time to emerge.

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[Cellblock2429]

Had some Canadian visitors last year.

They asked me "How do you take that noise?"

I said "what noise?"

"That crazy loud alien spacecraft noise!"

<Pause> "Oh, the cicadas. You live here, you learn to mentally filter them out."

Cicadas are fun for cats, who will play cicada-hockey on the hardwood floor with live cicadas. Or they walk around with a live cicada in their mouth, and it surprises you when the cat goes "BUUUUUUUZZZZZZZ".

/--- My dog did that. A bit creepy.