[Jemian]

FYI

[dcwusmc]

So just what is a cicada?

[math=power]

Need a good laugh...go to Fox News right now and notice the similarity between the lead photograph and the one of Will Farrell. :)

[scott7278]

I think John Secada went underground in 1992.

[wildwood]

that's really weird. i live in northwest ohio and the last few years, the cicadas have been so loud at eventide you had to SHOUT to be heard above them;...but i hear nothing...nothing...i hadn't thought of it until i read this...

[xJones]

Just damn, those 'lil pups must be extinct in north Texas because I haven't heard any in a long time. I also haven't seen any frogs here for several years. Ummmm, Willie, just asking, Love Canal was in New York, wasn't it? :)

Within the next few weeks, billions of eggs deposited in tree branches will hatch and rain down tiny white nymphs no bigger than sesame seeds with beady red eyes.

Now if that it is a happy thought.....

[RedwM]

Those things are murder on small fruit trees and shrubs, and many deciduous tree branches under 1/2 in thick. They killed this years growth on alot of trees around here. They have a very sharp beak and they rip branches longways. I had to cover up 12 young trees with nylon netting. I still had to go around several times a day and kill the ones that managed to get inside the netting for about a month.

[steveo]

Carp! I thought we were gonna die!!!

[Desdemona]

Uh, they're not gone yet. Around here we get an annual vintage, too.

[xrp]

Willie, does this mean that cicada researchers and collectors will be laid off/furloughed for 17 years?!?

[Nick Danger]

won't emerge as adults until 2021

I don't understand why the things that fly around and make the flying-saucer noise are called "adults." These insects spend 99% of their lives underground (a good place for them) eating roots. Then they retire, grow a flying Winnebago, and go see what the world is like while trying to get laid. A week later they die. So I think the flying ones are actually the retired cicadas.