Jerseygirl

Billions of the 17 year cycle cicadas are due to appear sometime this month. We moved to the US a few weeks after the previous cycle had gone to ground. I was told that every outdoor surface was covered in them. They are almost blind...so have a tendency to fly into you. My friend said that even with double glazing it was difficult to sleep because of the noise they make. She said it was like having someone using a jack hammer right outside your bedroom window.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-17-years.html

civilservant

Living in GA - that was lucky!

SarahG

Lucky for me they apparently only come as far south as North Carolina!

Pulaski

There were supposed to be 13 year cicadas a couple of years ago, but I didn't see any, or at least not enough swarming bugs to notice anything remarkable. If you get affected by this cycle of the 17 year cicadas I hear there can be upto one billion/mile^2!

Jerseygirl

I know there are 1 yr, 13 yr and 15 yr cicadas. A few years ago the 13 year cicada (I think it was 13) hit parts of southern NJ. I remember seeing film of people in Princeton swatting them as they walked along the pavement. From what I can gather the emergence of the 17 year cicadas is by far the worst.

robin1234

Not sure what year it was, but maybe 3 or 4 years ago, we ran into them in the summer on Cape Cod. One location, the Bourne Ice Hockey Rink by the Canal, they were swarming; very loud, flying everywhere, and you could find their empty larval skins everywhere. I found it fascinating and beautiful. They were localized though; our daughter lived in a similar habitat, mixed pine and oak woodland, not too many miles away, and they had only a few of the critters. I think every year there are some but (due to the long life span of each generation) some years more than others.

mandpete

Oh no not again. In early summer 2004 Princeton was full of them. They landed on your clothes, in your hair and you couldn't avoid crunching them under your feet. The noise they made was really loud but in the older areas of town it was absolutely deafening. Thankfully it only lasted a couple of weeks.

paddingtongreen

I've lived in the western suburbs of Philadelphia PA since 1966 and I do not remember any great swarms of them, some every year but no invasion.

fulwood

for some reason these things frighten me a lot. don't know why. i know they can't harm you like bees but lordy when I hear one I run for the hills. not a big issues though in the desert but do see them occasionally..

Jerseygirl

I had one in the kitchen a couple of years ago. It was dying and was crawling around on the floor making a heck of a noise. I put a container over it until hubby came home and put it outside.

I wonder if we will see lots of cicada killer wasps. They are big beasts...big enough to paralyse a cicada and fly off with it.

mandpete

I hate those wasps, in 2004 we had quite a few of them living in holes in the lawn. This time we have a dog so as well as trying to stop her eating the cicadas we may have to keep her inside to stop her being stung. They don't often sting but when they do I imagine it would really hurt.

Jerseygirl

One flew in the house one summer...I wondered what the heck it was. I probably used a full can of wasp killer on it.

Englishtart

Those things are HUGE!! When we moved to IL in 2005 they would fly into the house and even down the chimney! I remember my neighbor got stung by one when it got stuck in her hair!

I usually don't mind the sound of the Cicadas, but if there is going to be huge swarms of them, I might need to get earplugs for sleeping!

Bob

noisy little buggers, and that crunch sound when you stand on them.... :/

jeffreyhy

Collect some up and fry them in oil. Excellent eating.
http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html

Regards, JEff