Yes it's the invasion of the 17 year itch Cicadas which will be emerging with up to 1.5 million per acre from Georgia to New York mostley along the I-95 corridor. They will be making their mating calls and landing all over vehicles trees, you name it. Estimates are sometime in July, but exactly when is up to mother nature. They are other areas with different time tables to come out in different parts of the country. The last time these were out for mating was 1996. The logic is they will survive in mass but would be eaten in small numbers so they all come out to make sure they survive, and they eat like they are starving.

They also make a heck of a racket. And with those big red eyes, they're ugly.

I got news for ya: they are already out here.For the gourmets among us, they are excellent sources of protein, and very tasty -- or so I hear. What, you thought _I_ was gonna try one?

Maybe they will cancel out my tinnitus for a few weeks.

In Maryland they will be out in the next two weeks. If you're in an area with new development (less than 17 years old), it's not much of a problem. The older the area, the worse they are. We get them pretty bad but they really don't bother me. Much better than mosquitoes and ticks, that's for sure. Around here (DC area) brood X is a lot worse.

trop-a-cal wrote:Yes it's the invasion of the 17 year itch Cicadas which will be emerging with up to 1.5 million per acre from Georgia to New York mostley along the I-95 corridor. They will be making their mating calls and landing all over vehicles trees, you name it. Estimates are sometime in July, but exactly when is up to mother nature. They are other areas with different time tables to come out in different parts of the country. The last time these were out for mating was 1996. The logic is they will survive in mass but would be eaten in small numbers so they all come out to make sure they survive, and they eat like they are starving.so what natural predators eat these buggers?Ive heard a story about locust invasion in China one time and farmers alegedly took ducks,geese and chickens and turned them lose among these locusts,and they took care of them just nicely.

900 miles of Cicadas 1.5 inch and noisey East Coast US

D___M
Explorer
May 25, 2013
Got all the way from MD to OBX and not cicada storm. Hope my luck holds on the way home.
Oaklevel
Explorer
May 24, 2013
They say the Bass really like them.........................
Go_Dogs
Explorer
May 23, 2013
Everyone can calm down. Their noise is not deafening. They do not eat crops. The 17 year cicada had been underground for 17 years, eating juices from tree roots. They are only above ground for a short time to shed/mate/lay eggs. Then, they die. Birds, fish,and mammals feast upon them. I suggest that if you are lucky enough to encounter them, you have a license, a fishing pole, and maybe a grandchild. Better than any video game.
JJBIRISH
Explorer
May 23, 2013
1272 miles up the east coast this week, haven’t seen one, haven’t heard one, and have none on the windshield or anywhere else…
FL – GA – SC – NC – VA – WV – PA – OH…
CincyGus
Explorer II
May 23, 2013
Time to get a good coat of wax on the RV if your going to be traveling the highways the next few months. Will make it much easier to removed their squashed guts off your pretty RV. Just saying....
flyinguy68
Explorer
May 23, 2013
My yard has all those holes in it just like the picture, but I haven't seen the buggers yet. Haven't even heard them
ReelTime
Explorer
May 23, 2013
OK how’s about someone splain something to me. I have lived in Piedmont North Carolina all my life. A southern boy and the Son of a Tobacco Farmer and a Tobacco farmer’s wife. So I guess that makes me Southern X2.

Now for at least 62 years (can’t really remember the first couple years very well, 64 now) there has been every Summer Cicadas. In the summer at night the hotter and drier it got the louder the serenade got.

It would appear to me that for several years now there has been a springtime alert that the 17-year Cicadas were about to emerge.

Now just splain to me how did that happen? This 17-year deal that happens every year where I live and has happened every year for a long time.

Only thing I can figure is the 17 year variety sneaks in with the yearly variety and there you have it. Never noticed any of them looking different but maybe the language is different.

I kind of like the noise myself at night, I do understand the saying “so loud it is deafening” that is the only thing I can hear, at least that is what I tell my wife.

My wife says I have too much time on my hands also.
D___M
Explorer
May 23, 2013
Oh, please say it isn't so. Im heading for OBX and I can just imagine the front of my rig when I get there. :R
PamfromVA
Explorer
May 23, 2013
They have been out here for close to a week. Very loud during the day. Our bluebirds are plumped up from the extra protein.
RoyB
Explorer II
May 23, 2013
I sit out in my CAMP BACKYARD every evening at the edge of my woods until dark here in King George - haven't heard them here yet...

Roy Ken