# The cicadas are here!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 23, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745 "2021-05-23T16:14:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/1 "2021-05-23T16:14:52Z")
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.
Any others in Brood X territory?
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/2 "2021-05-23T23:13:57Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/3 "2021-05-23T23:45:57Z")
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.
And BTW, cicadas are quite tasty.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/4 "2021-05-24T12:09:33Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/5 "2021-05-24T13:51:16Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/6 "2021-05-24T14:17:21Z")
Anne Arundel Co. Maryland checking in. Those suckers are singing every day. Their sound reminds me of a 1950’s sci-fi flying saucer “whir”.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/7 "2021-05-24T14:46:31Z")
I miss cicadas. We occasionally have something here in So FL that sounds similar, but never the intense hordes I enjoyed in the forested midwest.
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/8 "2021-05-24T15:36:09Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> 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.
I grew up in Arlington. I remember them being so dumb that they didn’t even know that lawnmovers were dangerous to their continued existence.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/9 "2021-05-24T15:59:10Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/10 "2021-05-24T20:09:43Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> Here in NE Ohio we are in another brood that hatched several years ago.
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.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/11 "2021-05-24T20:23:46Z")
Hyattsville, MD. First started seeing a few crawling around on the porch about 2 weeks ago. Got them full bore about a week ago.
The daytime droning is quite eerie; it sounds like there’s an alien mothership landing somewhere just over the horizon.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/12 "2021-05-24T21:10:28Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> I wonder if non periodic cicadas are common in Lorain County, Ohio?
See here for more. I bet yes.
> **[Common cicadas of Ohio](https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/common-cicadas-of-ohio/)**
>
> Annual cicadas of Ohio (OH): All cicadas appear every year unless otherwise noted. Cicadettana calliope calliope (Walker, 1850) aka Southern Grass Cicada C. calliope calliope photos & information Megatibicen auletes (Germar, 1834) aka Northern...
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/13 "2021-05-24T21:13:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#):
>
> Here in Arlington, VA, anyway.
Huh. Nothing in our part of the county yet.
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### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/14 "2021-05-24T21:52:25Z")
We haven’t got them yet (I live in SE Michigan). But we always do.
Did you know, when I was a little kid, Cicadas were the only bugs that could make the little girls scream?
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/15 "2021-05-25T00:34:32Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> Did you know, when I was a little kid, Cicadas were the only bugs that could make the little girls scream?
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.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/16 "2021-05-25T00:52:26Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/17 "2021-05-27T20:27:43Z")
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!
I guess the thunderstorm yesterday awakened them.
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### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/18 "2021-05-27T20:29:31Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/19 "2021-05-29T01:53:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> 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.
They do have sharp claws.
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### Author:  [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)
#### Post date: [June 9, 2021, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-cicadas-are-here/942745/20 "2021-06-09T22:44:46Z")
Cicada Tacos anyone?
> **[Cicada Tacos, 17 Years In The Making... - Live and Let's Fly](https://liveandletsfly.com/cicada-tacos/)**
>
> After 17 years in the ground, cicada are emerging in the USA. That is created a new demand for cicada tacos, which taste like shrimp.
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