I was looking forward to hearing that electric saw noise…but the woods are still silent.
This was supposed to be a big year for cicadas-so where are they?
BTW-I live 20 miles west of Boston, MA.
Everywhere? Or just in your area? How does the cycle thing work? I don’t understand why all the cicadas are on the same year.
I dunno, I was wondering the same thing, here in Michigan. Usually those buzzy little bastards rev up every time the heat goes over 78 or so. I haven’t heard a single one this year.
this year has 13 year ones in central midwest and south.
17 year ones were in the east in 2008.
The really big 17-year group is the Great Eastern Brood, which last came around in 2004. I was living in Baltimore at the time, and the things were everywhere.
None of the 13-year broods appear in New England.
Just one more ralph124c GQ question that could have been answered by the first Wikipedia article.
Odd, then-the 13 year ones were reported on Yonkers, NY (Jne).
I guess that doesn’t count as New England.
That’s correct. New York is not part of New England.
Well, we’re not in GQ and there’s no reason to be nasty. Not all of us lived in Baltimore in 2004 and, “the first Wikipedia article” I found didn’t clearly address the years the broods appear.
If you don’t want to discuss cicadas, fine. If you do and have relevant information, sharing it rather than snarking would be a fine choice.
Ellen Cherry
MPISMS Moderator
I did share some information, and i broke no rules.
Also, put 13 year cicada into Google, and the first hit is this page.
HTH
Well, if I’d known you were wanting to experience cicada hell, I would have invited you over. End of May, first week of June we were invaded here in central Illinois. Our tree trunks were covered with the crusty shells, the noise was insane, and the smell!There were cicada drifts of dead and decaying bugs. We left the 12th for Tennessee, and when we came back on the 19th, most of them had disappeared. Thank God – I was really tired of doing the lunatic getitoutofmyfacehairmouth dance every time I went outside.
They are trapped under all the concrete that has been poured since then, and killed by all the pesticides we have dumped on our lawns and crops.
Seen many fireflies lately? They are very rare in my neck of the woods. Sad
Look for old-growth areas – places where there were plentiful number of trees 13 years ago that haven’t been paved over since.
We live in the 'burbs of Cincinnati. During the last cicada perfect storm, cicadas were plentiful in older established neighborhoods and rather scarce in the sections with new subdivisions. Now that are subdivision is 20+ years old, they’ll get worse over time.
It is an evolutionary advantage to only appear over long time spans in prime numbered years so predators never arise in sync with the species.
The same in central Illinois. You had to swat them away from your face as you walked outside. The noise was so loud I felt like I was living in a science fiction movie. Surprisingly, a town 8 miles west of us didn’t get them!
Weirdly enough, I haven’t heard ANY cicadas this year. Like I said, usually as soon as the temperature goes up they’re roaring away, but not a peep this year.
They’re here in Texas (Dallas) and they wont shut up!
My understanding is you need multiples of 13 years of treeiness to get a population established. My experience was no cicadas in places that were prairie within the last 40 - 50 years, but old growth bottom land was thick with them.