Who is ready for cicadas?

[geekette]

I read that it is time for their 17 year awakening. Ew. That was a fast 17 years, and possibly a far less pleasant summer than I had hoped for.

Can anyone say anything good about them?

 

[silentg]

I’m not sure what they are?

 

[Luanne]

No cicadas here, but we are having a moth infestation.

 

[Cornell]

I love them. Find them fascinating. In Chicago we have annual and periodic cicadas. Where I live the annual ones appear around 3rd week of June. Their noise is sooooooo loud that it's often times hard to talk on the phone outside. To me, their sound just indicates "SUMMER!" and all the good stuff it brings.

I have experienced two of the periodic cicada emergences. Really crazy events. Cicadas solidly covering trees, screens, etc. We had a screen porch growing up and I remember the cicadas covering every surface of the porch and freaking out.

 

[JudyH]

I remember in the early 90s my car died a few blocks from the office and I had to walk to work thru a bad infestation. Major cicadaphobia.

 

[geekette]

I’m not sure what they are?

To me, they seem large, like 2-3 inches long, bodies can be thicker than your finger. Very noisy, and they seem to shed their skins, leaving all these really gross exoskeletons around. I mostly find those on wood - the deck, wooden yard furniture, etc.

They seem to be a mix of blue and green, that is the kindest thing I can say, that they have a nice color scheme... oh, and I don't think any have ever dive-bombed me.

Cicada - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DrQ]

... To me, their sound just indicates "SUMMER!" and all the good stuff it brings.

Brings backs memories of being a kid.

I remember finding their "shells" on trees when the molt.

 

[geekette]

I love them. Find them fascinating. In Chicago we have annual and periodic cicadas. Where I live the annual ones appear around 3rd week of June. Their noise is sooooooo loud that it's often times hard to talk on the phone outside. To me, their sound just indicates "SUMMER!" and all the good stuff it brings.

I have experienced two of the periodic cicada emergences. Really crazy events. Cicadas solidly covering trees, screens, etc. We had a screen porch growing up and I remember the cicadas covering every surface of the porch and freaking out.

Terrific! Thank you, I was hoping someone would put in a good word.

Yes, very loud. I can appreciate their representing 'the sound of summer', but I'll stick with the tree frogs for that ; )

I had not realized they could be annual anywhere, so, thank you for that bit of education. Counting myself lucky that it is not annual here!

 

[Brett]

I'm not sure if cicadas will arrive this summer in southeast Virginia

 

[geekette]

I'm not sure if cicadas will arrive this summer in southeast Virginia

Actually, it was that part of the country that "the forecast" was for. I noted NC in the list, as I was planning to head down there in a month or two.

My little local news had barely a blip:

1.5 million cicadas expected to emerge after 17 years underground

Get ready to hear that eerie noise that can only come from a cicada. Experts say a massive amount of the noisy bugs are making their way to the skies after 17 years underground. They believe as man…

fox59.com

 

[Cornell]

If you know where to look , you can find a cicada emerging from its “shell”. You can put it in a screen cage and watch the emergence over the course of an hour or so. Absolutely fascinating.

 

[dmbrand]

I love listening to cicadas, hope they emerge here too.

 

[Conan]

Our area’s cicada brood is on a different 17-year cycle, so this isn’t the year for us. It’s wonderful how they come and go, once maybe when you’re a child, then you’re in your 20s, 40s, then once or twice more. Human life is short!

Apparently cicadas like our 17 year guys evolved to appear on prime number cycles to make it harder for predators to match them. Prime numbers have no divisors (except 1 and themselves) so another critter that has maybe a 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, or 13 year cycle won’t synch with their appearance.

 

[DrQ]

All things cicada:

Where will 17 & 13 Year Periodical Cicada Broods emerge next?

Skip to a section: Broods | Your Town | Pre Emergence Signs | Magicicada Species. 17 & 13 Year Periodical Cicadas This page is strictly for Magicicada periodical cicadas, aka 17 & 13-year cicadas, aka "locusts" (read why they're called locusts).This does not cover annual cicada species in North...

www.cicadamania.com

 

[Bucky]

LOL. I hear cicadas all day, everyday. The docs call it tinnitus!

 

[AnnaS]

Thankfully we are not do for them this year.

 

[Big Matt]

What I remember from last time was how much dogs liked eating them

 

[easyrider]

They make great bait. Hook them in the middle and let them dance around on top of the water. This really works well for bass, perch and crappie.

Bill

 

[geekette]

They make great bait. Hook them in the middle and let them dance around on top of the water. This really works well for bass, perch and crappie.

Anyone is free to come collect as much bait from my property as they want.

 

[Tacoma]

I think I heard them once. If my memory serves me it was in Orlando. I had no idea what the sound was so I asked.

 

[mdurette]

My last house had these massive wasp like creatures in the ground. I ended up finding out they were cicada killer wasps. I would sit on my front porch and yep, every now and then I would see one of these wasps with a cicada in tow going down to its hole. I don't mind the cicadas....but those wasps were awful.

 

[Cornell]

My last house had these massive wasp like creatures in the ground. I ended up finding out they were cicada killer wasps. I would sit on my front porch and yep, every now and then I would see one of these wasps with a cicada in tow going down to its hole. I don't mind the cicadas....but those wasps were awful.

Agreed! Those things give me the creeps.

 

[clifffaith]

What I remember from last time was how much dogs liked eating them

We had "July bugs" several homes ago -- red flying medium size beetle-ish bugs. We'd sit in our family room and hear the sounds of our beagle jumping to catch bugs in mid-flight, then chomp-chomp-chomp as he enjoyed his snack.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Millions of cicadas are expected to emerge after 17 years underground because, of course, it's 2020.

Millions of cicadas are expected to emerge after 17 years underground because, of course, it's 2020 | CNN

As if we didn't have enough to worry about with giant murder hornets invading the US and a global pandemic, millions of 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground this year.

www.cnn.com

Richard

 

[Brett]

Millions of cicadas are expected to emerge after 17 years underground because, of course, it's 2020.

Millions of cicadas are expected to emerge after 17 years underground because, of course, it's 2020 | CNN

As if we didn't have enough to worry about with giant murder hornets invading the US and a global pandemic, millions of 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground this year.

www.cnn.com

Richard

outbreaks in southwest Virginia and North Carolina - I might be sparred