Noisy and clumsy, 17-year cicadas are set to emerge from Maryland soil

The Baltimore Sin ^ | April 18, 2004 | Frank D. Roylance and Michael Stroh

[Cincinatus' Wife]

..........The 1987 appearance of Brood X began about May 15. By the first week in June, the males were in full song. Noise levels in Milford, Rodgers Forge and Roland Park were measured at 80 decibels in the afternoon. That's nearly as loud as a heavy truck passing on the Beltway and well above the state's residential limit of 65 decibels.

Pedestrians complained that females flew like drunken sailors, bouncing off walls and windshields, and dropping onto car seats and hairdos. Homeowners covered lawn furniture. Some draped vulnerable saplings in cheesecloth.

This year, panicked gardeners have been calling Carrie Engel, greenhouse manager at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville.

"I think a lot of them are misinformed and think cicadas are much like locusts and chew everything up," she said.

In fact, they're not locusts, and they don't chew anything. Their feeding - sucking on tender plant parts for nutrients and moisture - causes no significant damage. Aside from the smelly mess when they die en masse, their only real impact will be some tree "flagging" - a dieback of leaves as the females slice the bark of small branches to lay their eggs. For the most part, it doesn't hurt the trees.

"It's just like a natural pruning," Engel said.

Still, Engel recalled her own encounter with Brood X in 1970, after a high school softball game, when the girls returned to a bus that was parked under some shade trees - with the windows open. "By the time we got back in the bus, it was full of them," she said. "For a bunch of teen-age girls, it wasn't a pleasant experience."

The ick factor again.

Cicadas don't bother house pets - quite the opposite. Cats and dogs often find the surfeit of clumsy, crunchy insects the irresistible equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet. They just don't know when to stop eating.

Dr. Kim Hammond, a veterinarian at the Falls Road Animal Hospital, remembers the 1987 invasion. "The dogs got into huge piles of them, got sick and threw up," he said. "They don't even chew - they inhale."

Cicadas are safe for human consumption, in moderation - provided they haven't been exposed to insecticide (which is not recommended). Kritsky, who has eaten cicada nymphs "Cajun-style, stir-fried and raw in salads," likens the taste to "cold canned asparagus." Low in carbs, the nymphs are Atkins-diet friendly, he says.

Ick factor aside, many will find the spectacle fascinating. "This is gonna be active, raw nature," Raupp said. "They're gonna be mating, flying, crashing into buildings, running away from birds. They're gonna be eaten, having sex, laying eggs, falling out of treetops. And people will have the opportunity to witness everything that happens in biology." ...............

[Cincinatus' Wife]

...likens the taste to "cold canned asparagus.".......

Lovely.

The entire article is long but it is amusing and informative.

[SamAdams76]

Low-carb? When do I book my trip?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The drive here might be a bit buggy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cicada Watch 2004

[leadpenny]

I've experienced them twice - Fort Knox in 74 and in Northern Virginia about 15 years ago. Road marching with the troops on the range roads at Knox, you couldn't hear yourself think.

They are fascinating and a good way to get kids interested in the wonders of nature.

[pt17]

Dr. John R. Lion, a Baltimore psychiatrist, noted in 1987 that the cicadas' appearance, brief frenzy and death provoked anxiety, revulsion and even suicidal thoughts in some patients.

Gives meaning to the idea that something was bugging these patients.

[Skibane]

Interesting article!

Here in south Texas, we mostly have cicada species that only lie dormant for one or two years, and are roughly as numerous every year. They're sometimes called 'dog day cicadas', since they appear during the dog days of summer. Deafening little buggers...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I experienced the 17 year ones in Arizona, loud and messy but not like what they're describing here. I also have lived with the TX variety, a background annoyance you tune out.

[sauropod]

I remember them in 1987. I was working in the DC suburbs at the time.

Driving down Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park, the sound was deafening!

[leadhead]

Was the publication name deliberate or Freudian?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Terrific! Since moving here, we've had the snipers, record snow in'03, a hurricane and now big, loud, smelly bugs.

[leadhead]

A lot of the critters are in for a big surprise. The woods they lived in are now parking lots, houses or wider roads. Lots of development in Maryland in 17 years.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I was wondering about that. But there still is no ICC. Ha!

[angkor]

One of my childhood neighborhoods is mentioned in the article. Even at night they're so loud it makes sleeping difficult.

[leadpenny]

Driving down Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park, the sound was deafening!

Sounds like fun. Looking forward to it.

[capt. norm]

Once these things start dropping into the waters of lakes and streams, the fish go crazy on them.

You can either use them for bait (or your best hand-tied fly facsimile), or fish as usual later in the season after they've fattened up on these critters for a month or so. Either way you win.

[Clemenza]

I remember being 11 years old and for WEEKS it seemed, all you heard every minute was a loud clacking sound. Looks like we may be just in range again this year.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Time to get a fishing pole!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

........Even at night they're so loud it makes sleeping difficult.

This too shall pass.