# The Cicada invasion begins **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368 "2011-05-10T03:25:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/1 "2011-05-10T03:25:34Z")
Just to make this spring more colorful in Middle TN, the 13 year cicadas have begun to become active. May 10th is supposed to be D-day, with all of them waking up. I remember how bad they were in 1998. Sounded like bullets hitting off your car driving on the interstate. When UT describes the last emergence as [spectacular](http://web.utk.edu/~extepp/cicada/Cicadapage.htm), they’re not kidding around. This should be a fun few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/2 "2011-05-10T03:45:22Z")
We’re getting hammered with them here in NEMiss. My friend thought that someone’s house alarm had been going off for a couple of days until the MSU guy was on the news about them. It’s cool to watch at first, but it’s getting kinda gross. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/3 "2011-05-10T04:03:02Z")
Cool! I’ve never seen a swarm in Central Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/4 "2011-05-10T05:32:28Z")
Cool! Here’s some [recipes](http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/recipes.htm) including: Cicada-Portobello Quiche Curried Cicadas and Chickpeas Cicada Cheese Wontons ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/5 "2011-05-10T05:59:33Z")
I was living in Baltimore a few years ago when we got the 17-year swarm. It was actually pretty cool at first, but it got old rather quickly. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/6 "2011-05-10T11:44:58Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Cool! Here’s some [recipes](http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/recipes.htm) including: > > Cicada-Portobello Quiche > Curried Cicadas and Chickpeas > Cicada Cheese Wontons I dunno…are they Kosher? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/7 "2011-05-10T12:31:30Z")
I was at my mom’s house in west Georgia both this past weekend and the weekend before. The cicadas are everywhere! I was on my sis’s back deck. Her house is surounded by woods in the back and the noise sounded like diesel engines idling. Plus, they’re ugly little critters! Apparently dogs consider them to be tasty treats as I saw sis’s dogs munchin’ away on cicadas. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/8 "2011-05-10T13:51:58Z")
I’m starting to hear them here and there, but not from the woods near my house. I wonder if the construction of my neighborhood nine years ago killed them off. I hope not. Cicadas are cool. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/9 "2011-05-10T14:00:38Z")
Interesting how they are [distributed.](http://www.magicicada.org/about/brood_pages/broodXIX.php) One would think they would be reported in between. Perhaps they need particular conditions to swarm. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/10 "2011-05-10T14:59:06Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > I was at my mom’s house in west Georgia both this past weekend and the weekend before. The cicadas are everywhere! I was on my sis’s back deck. Her house is surounded by woods in the back and the noise sounded like diesel engines idling. Plus, they’re ugly little critters! Apparently dogs consider them to be tasty treats as I saw sis’s dogs munchin’ away on cicadas. :eek: you should see the chickens and guineas going to town on them … ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/11 "2011-05-10T15:43:53Z")
Some friends have already started posting pictures of early arrivals, but I haven’t seen any yet. I’m dreading it big time. I hate 'em. Not the noise, but the mess. Blech. And the 13-year brood is worse than the 17-year one, at least here in NashVegas. Blech blech blech. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/12 "2011-05-10T16:51:34Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > you should see the chickens and guineas going to town on them … There like McNuggets for critters! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/13 "2011-05-12T14:13:38Z")
Band name! No, really. The first name of my first attempted high school band was Cicada Invasion. We didn’t keep it for very long, but I saw it on a news report and I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/14 "2011-05-12T20:40:21Z")
I haven’t seen any yet, but right now I HEAR them … lookin’ for dates … ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/15 "2011-05-13T06:16:07Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Cool! Here’s some [recipes](http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/recipes.htm) including: > > Cicada-Portobello Quiche > Curried Cicadas and Chickpeas > Cicada Cheese Wontons > [@mhendo](#): > > I was living in Baltimore a few years ago when we got the 17-year swarm. It was actually pretty cool at first, but it got old rather quickly. I was in DC at the time (I think we met at a Dopefest once, but I’m not positive) and I found some recipes. I remember making pizza with some and dry-roasting others then dipping them in chocolate. They were pretty tasty. If you decide to try some, what they don’t tell you in the recipes is that for best results, you should go out early in the morning and get the newly molted ones clinging to trees and buildings. They’ll be white and unable to fly yet. They’re the tenderest. Pop them in the freezer to kill and preserve them, unless you’re going to cook them right away and can handle watching them try to crawl out of the pan. Man, 17 years waiting underground, you finally get to come up and you’re just about to fly around and have sex when BAM, someone bakes you in a pizza. Sucks to be a cicada. Oh well, it was me or the robins. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/16 "2011-05-13T06:35:41Z")
I hear cicadas all the time. _ **All the time** _. Not in 13 or 17 year cycles. I live in Hawaii where as far as I know there aren’t any cicadas. It is puzzling. The US Army once gave me a piece of paper which states that my hearing is really crappy and that I have tinnitus. That may have something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/17 "2011-05-18T05:32:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Interesting how they are [distributed.](http://www.magicicada.org/about/brood_pages/broodXIX.php) > One would think they would be reported in between. Perhaps they need particular conditions to swarm. That seems to be a predictive map based on incomplete data from previous emergences. [This one](http://magicicada.org/databases/magicicada/map.html) is based on sightings of the present emergence. You can report your own sightings [here](http://magicicada.org/report/report.php)–location, life stage, numbers, species and song pattern. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/18 "2011-05-18T06:33:19Z")
They’ve gotten much quieter lately and I can tell they are going back into their 13 year slumber. As noisy as the bastards are (and crunchy under my feet), it is weird how you can get used to the noise so quickly that you miss it when it fades. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/19 "2011-05-18T15:12:21Z")
I lived in a different neighborhood during the last emergence. Current neighbors reported that that cycle was really, really bad. This year … I’ve seen 2 dead cicadas on my front porch. Two. I haven’t even heard them the last few days. I wonder if the unseasonably cold weather has affected them. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicada-invasion-begins/581368/20 "2011-05-18T17:41:36Z")
> [@T.Slothrop](#): > > I hear cicadas all the time. _ **All the time** _. Not in 13 or 17 year cycles. I live in Hawaii where as far as I know there aren’t any cicadas. It is puzzling. [Most cicadas in North America emerge every year in July or August](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibicen).