Here in Arlington, VA, anyway. I think they’re just starting to sing – the background has begun to hum every time I step outside, but only for the last couple of days.
They’re on the ground, getting crunched all along the sidewalk, and they’re definitely flying everywhere, with not a care in the world – frequently dive-bombing me and the stroller when I take iibabyiiii for a walk. I’m normally a pretty gentle guy, but I can’t help swatting them out of the air if they come close.
Here in NE Ohio we are in another brood that hatched several years ago. I enjoyed catching them and showing them to the grandkids. I remember a brood in the mid 1990s in western PA that was so loud in some small towns I had to close the windows on the car.
When I was a kid I collected the molted shells that had been left clinging to trees.
A number of years ago I was in Provence, France, where cicadas are the unofficial mascot. The cicadas chattering in the trees were so loud it was deafening.
Near me in Montgomery county Maryland we’ve had them around a week or so. They are loud from time to time, but not too bad yet. I did have a few of them land on me. My kids are teens are are somewhat interested in them.
I got a couple of good photos of them in different stages of molting. I like the white ones when they first come out.
I wonder what it will be like over the next couple of weeks if many more come out near me.
Brood II was in western NJ in 1996. Very loud. Very, very loud. At the time I had a car with poor AC, but decided having the windows open was worse than the noise of the cicadas.
There’s an odd thing about the cicada’s song. I strongly associate it with summers spend on grandpa’s farm. Not the raucous roar of a major hatch but just off in the distance - a slight buzzing that means summer is here. And yet due to the 17 year cycle I should have heard cicadas only once in my youth. I wonder if non periodic cicadas are common in Lorain County, Ohio?
I’m going to be travelling to near Steubenville this weekend and my travel companions and I have been wondering if the area will be heavily affected. It’s hard to tell based on the brood maps but I’ve been guessing yes the whole time.
I’ve got to go to Indiana this week for work and a coworker pointed out that I may see some unusual cicada activity which I hadn’t considered. I offered to collect about a shoebox full and slip them into [other coworker]'s car and could she please leave her windows cracked a little bit in the parking lot when I got back. She screamed a little.
The funny thing is they don’t have a sting, they don’t even have a mouth to bite with, and looked at closely their face is not nearly as horrifically nightmare fuel / alien as is a ladybug’s.
They’re about the most benign least scary insect possible. And they make such a cool noise.
I was up at 8:30 this morning, wondering what all that racket was outside. It wasn’t until we were leaving for our podiatric appointments that it hit me: cicadas!
Today while taking baby for a walk, it sounded like there was always a car about 2 blocks away with its alarm blaring. Constantly. Luckily, our house appears to be well insulated for noise.