# So where are the cicadas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438 "2007-05-25T00:52:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/1 "2007-05-25T00:52:27Z")
I live in suburban Chicago and this is supposed to be our year. I live by a pretty decently wooded area, and every night on the news this week they’ve shown all sorts of cicada footage. Swarms and swarms of cicadas. People eating cicadas. Children squealing over them. So why haven’t I seen a single one yet? Where are the cicadas? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/2 "2007-05-25T01:03:23Z")
There’s at least one other current thread about this. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421857&highlight=cicadas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=421857&highlight=cicadas) I guess I’ll let this one stay open if people contribute the reasoning behind this, rather than shared experiences. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/3 "2007-05-25T02:02:20Z")
Well for one thing, it’s not the dog-days of summer quite yet. Seems to me anecdotally they are at their most raucous and loud when it is the hottest. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/4 "2007-05-25T02:23:07Z")
Periodical cicadas are typically out well beofre the hottest part of the year. They’re different from the common-everywhere and far-less-numerous annual cicadas (or “dog-day” cicadas). Periodicals usually come out in mid-May and are mostly gone by the start of July. We got them here in SW Ohio a few years ago (our local “brood” is on a different point in the 17-year cycle). When it occurred, I didn’t see a one in my neighborhood, but there were tons in the older neighborhoods a couple miles away, and a lot in the less-developed areas a few miles in the other direction. My part of town was forest and farmland 50 years ago, and has since been developed. The process of clearing trees and turning over land disrupts the local cicada population, and it takes them a while to move back in. Getting a chance to only move a short distance once every 17 years means it takes a while. You may have just found yourself in a pocket of too-recently disturbed land. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/5 "2007-05-25T16:17:38Z")
I am in an older Chicago neighborhood with mature trees. Nothing yet. (According to the experts, they should have been out a few days ago.) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-are-the-cicadas/405438/6 "2007-05-25T19:42:03Z")
I saw my first cicadas today. Here are two interactive maps where people can report their sightings. [http://cicadas.lcfpd.org/cicadamap/](http://cicadas.lcfpd.org/cicadamap/) [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-cicada-map-html,1,6444759.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-cicada-map-html,1,6444759.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed) I checked the Chicago Tribune archives from 1990 and some people raised the same point. The archives showed that the cicadas were not an even blanket over the Chicago area. IOW, the natural and expected non-uniform distribution of the swarms has not been emphasized in the reporting, making the experts look bad. Here’s an excerpt from one article. > [@](#): > > _Selective cicada swarm strains scientists’ credibility; [NORTH SPORTS > FINAL, C Edition]_ > /Natalie Weinstein/. _Chicago Tribune (pre-1997 Fulltext)_. Chicago, > Ill.: Jun 11, 1990. pg. 3 > > …While almost every suburb has at least a few cicadas, the outbursts have been so spotty that even bombarded areas have large patches with few or none. > > So far, the southern and western suburbs have been most heavily infiltrated, including Tinley Park, Downers Grove, Glen Ellyn, Palos Heights and Chicago Heights. The more heavily deluged Chicagoland areas include La Grange, Western Springs, Hinsdale, Elmhurst and Riverside…