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." ...............

[Jimmy Valentine]

Jeepers Creepers! I remember the last one.

All of the birds got so fat from eating these things that they could hardly fly.

And, as to the state of my poor car after the birds digested the cicadas, well, let us just say no more!

Regards,

[leadpenny]

The area is going to be like living under a giant Mulberry Tree.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks. I needed that.

[lepton]

bugs

[Larry Lucido]

"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.

We talking about the Kennedy compound here?

[Hand em their arse]

Now that's funny!!! I remember being a teenager and picking them up from behind by squezing the wings together and throwing them at the ground . They made a tremendous POP! Back then it's was quite funny, now it really seems a bit cruel... ( Although, I must admit I still find a little humor, am I sick?)

[wildandcrazyrussian]

The map you provided is quite fascinating in that it looks as though the area just skips over this area (WV and southwest PA), when in fact we had the identical phenomenon 5 years ago (1999). For weeks there was a constant drone of billions of cicadas, and there were even warnings about hearing damage from walking in the woods. I wonder why there would be a different timefram.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Humor ping

[Molly Pitcher]

WoW! I see the area where #2son goes to school is affected. I better warn him;^))

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LOL!!

[sweetliberty]

[MasonGal]

We live in southern Indiana - directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, KY. We are right, smack dab in the middle of it all - just about.

Oh - what fun....

[leadpenny]

Even though they have a 17 year cycle, I believe there are at least some broods that come up each year somewhere.

(I'm not sure if I understand what I just said - maybe someone else can)

[leadpenny]

74 - 91 - Don't you have another four years to go?

[MasonGal]

I'm originally from the Cincy area - moved to this area 15 years ago. I'm 46 now - I don't remember a whole lot about the last time they arrived--I mean - I was old enough - I guess I was too busy with my very young baby at the time. :)) My husband does - he said they attacked him right and left as he was cutting the grass.

[verity]

They cannot be more annoying than Maryland's liberal Democrats.

[MasonGal]

We've been reading articles in the Louisville paper about them, recently - and how we will be getting a visit from "them" this May - so - I'm not really sure what's going on with the years/dates, etc.

[Centaur]

I understand and can attest! One of the little bugger's shells from last year sits on my desk....

[leadpenny]

he said they attacked him right and left as he was cutting the grass.

Of course they didn't attack him - they flew into him with something else on their Cicada mind. :)

As I mentioned earlier, I remember them in the Ft. Knox/Louisville area in 74. In 91 a son of a friend of mine was in basic training and he mentioned them all over the training areas and rifle ranges. Maybe they have turned into the 13-year Cicada. (Global Warming and all that)

[leadpenny]

Aren't they cute? I love it when folks freak-out over them.