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Cicada invasion: After 17 years underground, billions to emerge this spring
ABC News ^ | 4-10-2020 | Michelle Stoddart

Posted on 04/10/2021 2:06:52 PM PDT by deport

In April 2004, "Mean Girls" was playing in theaters and "Yeah!" by Usher was topping the Billboard music charts.

This spring -- 17 years later -- those cicadas are part of Brood X (ominous as the "X" sounds, it stands for the Roman numeral ten) and for all that time they have been underground eating and growing.

Researchers aren't sure exactly how many will surface, except that it will be in the billions: They estimate the numbers will be at least 1.5 million per acre, which could mean as many as 30 of the creatures covering your average square foot.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: History; Outdoors; Weather
KEYWORDS: 17yrevent; bugs; cicada; insects
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Let the chirping begin
1 posted on 04/10/2021 2:06:52 PM PDT by deport
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To: deport

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


2 posted on 04/10/2021 2:08:39 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: deport

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

30 per square foot?

What the hell do they eat?


3 posted on 04/10/2021 2:11:11 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: deport

Annoying little bastards.


4 posted on 04/10/2021 2:13:38 PM PDT by chuckee
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To: Mariner

What the hell do they eat?

******

They eat vegetation


5 posted on 04/10/2021 2:16:04 PM PDT by deport ( )
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To: chuckee

Annoying little bastards.

*********

Fortunately they aren’t around long.


6 posted on 04/10/2021 2:17:23 PM PDT by deport ( )
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To: deport

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


7 posted on 04/10/2021 2:19:01 PM PDT by fwdude (Pass up too many hills to die on, and you will eventually fall off the edge of the world.)
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To: Mariner

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.


8 posted on 04/10/2021 2:19:03 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (The greatest threat to world freedom is the Chinese Communist Party and Joe Biden is their puppet.)
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To: Mariner
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.

9 posted on 04/10/2021 2:22:13 PM PDT by fwdude (Pass up too many hills to die on, and you will eventually fall off the edge of the world.)
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To: deport

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.


10 posted on 04/10/2021 2:23:21 PM PDT by diatomite (That grifter crook Biden or Kamella isn't my president and never will be!! Resist!!)
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To: deport

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


11 posted on 04/10/2021 2:26:08 PM PDT by chuckee
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To: deport

Billions of new communist voters...

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


12 posted on 04/10/2021 2:27:18 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another Samuel Adams now that we desperately need him?)
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To: deport
We need more of these guys: Cicada Killer Hornets:


13 posted on 04/10/2021 2:27:32 PM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: fwdude

I’m in total agreement with you.

We lived outside what ever the weather.


14 posted on 04/10/2021 2:29:51 PM PDT by lizma2
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To: deport

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


15 posted on 04/10/2021 2:31:56 PM PDT by heavy metal (smiling improves your face value as well as making people wonder what the hell you're up to... 😁)
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To: deport

my dog eats them.


16 posted on 04/10/2021 2:31:59 PM PDT by ronniesgal (Hillary wants to be Governor of New York!!)
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To: deport

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


17 posted on 04/10/2021 2:32:51 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (By stealing Trump's second term, the Left gets Trump for 8 more years instead of just four.)
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To: fwdude
All they want to do during their short adult lives is have sex.

I can relate.

18 posted on 04/10/2021 2:33:46 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (By stealing Trump's second term, the Left gets Trump for 8 more years instead of just four.)
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To: deport

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...<: <: <:


19 posted on 04/10/2021 2:40:00 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98 "Message to GOP "GO FUnd YOURSELF")
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To: fwdude
All they want to do during their short adult lives is have sex.

And drink beer. Typical teenager.

20 posted on 04/10/2021 2:45:22 PM PDT by FatherofFive (We support Trump. Not the GOP)
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