Buggy Days, Noisy Days

The 17 year cicadas are finally here. The hype has been going on for several weeks, with the arrival--hatching day of May 22. That day came and went, with very few cicadas. All we had to do is wait, the weather warmed up a bit and now there are here in force. Their shells are all around the trees, and the bugs are on every kind of vegetation. We can expect to see them for about 3 weeks, then they lay their eggs, die and the 17 year cycle begins again.

These bugs are harmless, about 2 inches long, and are supposed to be quite tasty to humans and animals. They cling to anything, trees, branches, plants and fences. They don't eat or drink, don't sting or bite. They don't fly much even though they have large wings. When they do fly, they are really slow. We should be seeing some fat birds soon, since cicadas are a delicious treat to them.

Their purpose is to meet cicadas of the opposite sex, mate and lay eggs. In order to attract a mate, they "sing." Now thousand, maybe more singing cicadas makes quite a din. which sounds slightly industrial. It goes on all day, and stops after dark. I have experienced this phenomenon several times before--1990, 1973, 1956, but I have the most vivid recollections of the 1956 brood, when I was still in elementary school. I don't remember the noise at all.