Posted on 04/19/2016 2:46:39 PM PDT by beaversmom
Hope you like the sound of humming.
That is, if you live in the Northeastern United States, anyway. Billions of cicadas are slated to rise up from the ground in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio to mate next month, The Washington Post reports.
They have been lying in wait since they began life in 1999. This summer, at age 17, they’ll finally be crawling above ground to make the lives of human beings a living hell, just like any good teens.
Then, the winged insects will mate and die off in around a month.
These “17-year-cicadas” include three different species, according to Discovery News. Other types are on a one-year or 13-year schedule.
This year’s cicada crop will emerge as nymphs once nighttime soil temperatures eight-inches below the surface hit 64 degrees for four days in a row, according to The Plain Dealer. The nymphs climb into trees, then shed their exoskeletons to emerge as red-eyed adults, ready to breed.
Cicadas eat tree sap and typically don’t damage plants significantly. They also don’t bite or sting. But what some folks dread is the incessant noise.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
I don’t think of cicadas as pests. I thjink they’re cool and I love the noise they make.
The noise is the reason that part of the Country is so screwed up. I lived in WV for 4 years. I hated the little things.
“To emerge as red-eyed adults ready to breed”
Another frat party.
The Asians will be snacking on them...
That’s an amazing cycle. It seems somewhat sad to me.
If heat had a sound, this would be it. Summer isn’t summer with the cicadas.
Happy 17th birthday, Cicadas!!!
Just one more year of high school left!
Well, well, well. I remember those guys from sometime in the 60’s in Joisey.
They forgot the “make people deaf”. Hate those damn things. Wondering about the population in our new neighborhood.
I think they’re cool too! I like to scare my grankids with the shed exsoskeletons.
The world has changed a lot since 1999. They will hardly recognize it.
Or live baby birds:
Asian woman eats baby bird while gardening
They are in the mid south too
The cacophony
It’s LSD is to hearing
Or jungle at night
Loud
The exoskeletons at the end of the video I posted above are so cool because it’s natural fertilizer. :) I love that.
We don’t get ‘em here where I am. Nor lightning bugs.
These types of things come in cycles.
Out here in the Intermountain west, about every eight to ten years we have infestations of Crickets called Anabrus Simplex crickets, or more commonly known as “Mormon Crickets,” named for the outbreak in 1948 that almost killed all the crops of the Mormon settlers who had just entered the Salt Lake Valley in Utah at the time.
In 2005 or so, I can remember working out in the field here in Idaho and having millions of these crickets all over everything. divining on paved highways in the lesser used rural areas was actually dangerous because it was like driving on ice.
Anyhow, we were doing a lot of electrical work at some remote dams and were constantly having to literally stand up and shake the things off of ourselves.
Wait until they find out 94+ million are not in the workforce anymore, Obamacare passed, and see the price of arugula!
I remember 1999 - was doing pretty well. Even after the dot com crash, never worried about spending $20 on a meal on the weekend.
Now, I’m lucky if I ever HAVE a $20 bill.
I see them still, though, on TV and in the hands of a few other people.
When we were in Italy, they were so noisy. The hotter it was, the louder they got.
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