The 17 yr cycle cicadas about to emerge are NOT plant-eating locusts.

[elleng]

No chemicals which can hurt #pollinators are called for. They won't hurt gardens, trees, or shrubs unless they're saplings. We can trust Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

https://www.bbg.org/news/will_the_cicadas_hurt_your_plants?fbclid=IwAR0YMQ2hr4MCtzpGkZly4BBT8n56C7qguYs7mRV2a0l-MSFl6h_UvlPXurc

[dutch777]

1. They are really cool! I encourage anyone in driving range of an emergence to go witness it.

It's amazing the cacophony of sound these little critters can make. It's an absolutely otherworldy sound. The closest thing to it I have ever heard is the sound of a coyote pack howling in unison and that is not 1/1000th the volume of the cicada in full unified voice. And while they are pretty large...almost an inch long...they don't bite or sting and have a very interesting look. I didn't catch many live, but we would collect their molted shells they left behind on the trunks of trees when they came out with their wings. Nature has so many unique displays of creative expression and this is certainly one.

[elleng]

3. I live in the middle of it!

[dutch777]

4. Are they out already in MD? I grew up in PA and I recall it being in height of summer

But it was quite some time ago.

[elleng]

5. No, not until May, I think.

Awaiting Ospreys NOW!

[Xipe Totec]

2. The Sound of Giant Cicadas in South Texas near Brownsville

And this is just a few; maybe half a dozen.

[Atticus]

6. They are what a friend once called a "protein windfall for dwellers of field and forest"; EVERYTHING

eats them. Fish, cats, raccoons, possums, foxes and dozens of bird species. Our beagle considers cicadas hors d'oeuvres!

[many a good man]

7. Remember to drive safely!

I remember last time cars slippin' and a slidin' all over the place because they covered the roads!

[Blue Dawn]

8. I live in Tennessee.....

.....and I specifically remember a cicada emergence when we lived in Nashville in the 1980s. Our son was just a little guy then, and I remember that when the thousands and thousands of cicadas molted, their discarded skins would cling onto the sides of trees until eventually the skins would fall off the trees and amass in piles up to 3 feet high. My son thought that was fascinating!

One thing that was both funny and kind of creepy happened. For weeks the cicadas would fly around everywhere. You couldn’t get in your car without cicadas flying inside when you opened your car door. I am not a bug lover, so I worried about them getting stuck in my hair or clinging to my clothes.

Well, my husband accompanied me one morning to the oral surgeon for my wisdom tooth removal, and he was nicely dressed for work. As we sat in the waiting room, he said it felt itchy on his leg....and then he said that something was definitely crawling on his calf. He stood up and sort of shook his pants leg and out near his shoe flew a big ole’ cicada that started flying around the room. People freaked out! They were jumping out of their seats and ducking their heads and trying to swat at it. The receptionists opens their door and walked into the waiting room wanting to know what was going on. It was quite a scene! My husband, 6’ 9” tall, was able to reach up and capture the cicada on the ceiling, and he released it humanely outside. Everyone then started sharing their own personal cicada stories....LOL!

What I remember very vividly is the sound they made. It was so loud that if we opened our windows to get a nice breeze, we almost couldn’t hear the person sitting right next to us talking.

They are beautiful in their own way, aren’t they? I think it is amazing that they know when to emerge after 13 or 17 years.

I am in awe of nature each and every day!