Cicada invasion: After 17 years underground, billions to emerge this spring

ABC News ^ | 4-10-2020 | Michelle Stoddart

[deport]

Let the chirping begin

[Dilbert San Diego]

I remember a few cycles ago, in 1970, people called them the 17 year locusts.

[Mariner]

I’d druther deal with earthquakes, floods and fires.

30 per square foot?

What the hell do they eat?

[chuckee]

Annoying little bastards.

[deport]

What the hell do they eat?

******

They eat vegetation

[deport]

Annoying little bastards.

*********

Fortunately they aren’t around long.

[fwdude]

I actually love that sound. It hearkens back to the sounds of nature when I was a kid spending 12+ hours outside. Very sentimental.

[KarlInOhio]

Most of their lives they just sit on the roots and drain them as larvae. I’ve heard that they are more closely related to aphids than locusts/grasshoppers. I don’t know if they eat as adults.

[fwdude]

What the hell do they eat?

Essentially nothing. They’ve spent 17 years sucking nutrients from roots. All they want to do during their short adult lives is have sex.

[diatomite]

I saw these when I grew up in KY, but they remind me of Mormon crickets hatching high in the NV mtns and eating their way down the mountain valleys. Those bugs don’t chirp, but do make loud chewing/rustling sounds out of a horror movie. I once saw caution signs on I-80 because the bug smash was making the pavement slippery.

[chuckee]

My tinnitus is evidence the last time the little pests were here, most of them ended up nesting in my auditory system rather than leaving the planet. Maybe they’ll leave with their little buddies the next time they blight the planet.lol

[SuperLuminal]

Billions of new communist voters...

Those registration lines are going to be very very long...

[fidelis]

We need more of these guys: Cicada Killer Hornets:

[lizma2]

I’m in total agreement with you.

We lived outside what ever the weather.

[heavy metal]

maybe they’ll drown out aoc and company...

[ronniesgal]

my dog eats them.

[SamAdams76]

It’s that time again. We get to listen to the grasshoppers sing.

[SamAdams76]

All they want to do during their short adult lives is have sex.

I can relate.

[xrmusn]

Ho hum, fifth repeat performance for me...

Ho Hum...

What is that constant chirping TRYING to drown out my constant chirping/ringing from tinnitus????

Really hard to tell the difference when one thinks their tinnitus can be heard by others...<: <: <:

[FatherofFive]

All they want to do during their short adult lives is have sex.

And drink beer. Typical teenager.