Reply
Nymph cicadas, such as this one, are the progeny of Brood X of the 17-year cicadas emerging now in Georgia. Many broods of periodical cicadas come out of the ground on rigid schedules in different years, but this is believed to be (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
GEORGIA Despite the complex evolutionary strategy of the 17-year periodical cicadas, already coming out of the ground in Georgia, these marvels of nature have a simple, almost singular purpose:
Go forth and multiply to ensure the species will emerge again in a monotonous cacophony and we hate to say it, but nature is brutal, as every Nature Channel aficionado already knows promptly drop dead after finishing the one job they worked their way out of the ground to do.
Flickr Creative Commons
Poor Will’s Almanack for the Second Week of Late Spring, the fourth week of the Cows Switching their Tails Moon, the third week of the sun in Taurus.
It won’t be long before Brood X of the 17-Year Cicadas, the Great Eastern Brood, emerges throughout Ohio and fourteen other eastern states.
I encountered those creatures one day back in 2004, exactly 17 years ago. Entering woods along a river, I walked slowly along the path making my way through prickly nettle and old garlic mustard.
I looked and looked. Then suddenly, there they were, resting quietly all around, waiting for me. They were an inch or two in length. Their wings were shiny and gold, their eyes red, their bodies black.
Have you heard the buzz? After 17 years of living underground feeding on sap from the roots of plants, one of the largest broods of cicadas will be emerging soon to lay their eggs in trees.
Brood X, or the Great Eastern Brood, will spend 2-4 weeks in late May and early June courting, mating and flying. The eggs they lay will hatch 4-6 weeks later. Their presence will be hard to ignore, as cicadas can emit sounds between 80 and 100 decibels, equivalent to a low-flying airplane or a lawn mower! You can expect to see them in Ohio and about 14 other states as soon as the weather reaches 64 degrees. Their offspring will head back underground and will not be heard again until 2038.