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.

[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.

[Imagine]

Suggest goggles when on your motorcycle.

[tgslTakoma]

The Washington Post had an article a week or two ago that explained better the various broods and their cycles.

I was 12 when I experienced Brood X for the first time. In my childhood home, where my kids and I are temporarily living now, the sound and the mass of cicada bodies was incredible. I remember not being able to (actually not wanting to) walk barefoot the two blocks to the neighborhood store. And now I have lawn-mowing chore... I'll have to suit up for that for a month, I guess. I wonder if the neighbors will look askance at me if I make a screen covered hat... ick is right!

And the noise level!Sauropod remembers well the noise they produce. My kids won't believe what they are about to experience. They think I am exaggerating.

Oh well, it's only for a month or so.

[leadpenny]

With all those cookies and signs you probably hauled downtown yesterday, I'm sure your neighbors already look askance at you. :)

Give yourself five demerits for reading the Washington Post.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Interesting.

[tgslTakoma]

Yeah, they are much more used to folks in tie-dye loading "No War for Oil" and "Re-Defeat Bush" signs in their Toyota Priuses (what is the proper plural for Prius anyway?). They will probably cheer when we move out in June.

About the Post... it doesn't dirty my doorstep. Somebody posted a thread on FR and I read it online.

:-)

[barker]

I have ear problems and have a constant "ringing" in my ears. Sounds just like cicadas. I've gotten used to it.

[EQAndyBuzz]

What do the cicadas know and when did they know it.

We get the 17 year variety in Jersey. Scares the bejeezus out of me.

[stylin19a]

Ain't as many going to come up as went down. The open spaces of 17 years ago is now a strip mall or a housing development.

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks! Great graphic!