After 13 years underground, here come the cicadas

[snagglepuss]

snip

'There are billions of them in the trees,' Greta Beekhuis told USA Today from her home in Pittsboro, North Carolina. 'The sound of the cicadas is clearly audible over the line.

There have been reports of mass-hatchings in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Arkansas.

But now the inch-long insects are heading north, desperate to continue their breeding frenzy.

The cicada, however, is completely harmless to humans, apart from the intense racket males make when singing for mates which can reach up to 120 decibels.




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1386233/US-states-braced-cicadas-invasion-hatch-13-years-underground.html#ixzz1MB4qJSEe

[Zoeisright]

1. Hmm, why did I think of Newt Gingrich when I read this?

:)

[Drale]

2. Don't tell me Cicadas are not dangerous to humans

last time they where around, I got hit in the face with a flying bug and had a golf ball sized bruise on my forehead.:rofl:

[snagglepuss]

7. oh geez. Almost as bad as someone I knew who had a wasp fly into his

mouth where it bit him.

[KittyWampus]

3. Jeez, as if the yearly summer influx of tourists wasn't bad enough.

[damntexdem]

4. How do they taste?

Hey, what with food prices going up .........

[Happyhippychick]

5. My dog ate them during the last infestation in DC. They're chicken mcnuggets for dogs.

[redwitch]

6. And SOOOO crunchy!

Ick.

[snagglepuss]

8. Good to know dog owners can save some money on treats.

:)

[BadgerKid]

19. Maybe KFC will tap this for another protein source.

After all, what does the "C" really stand for?

[Demoiselle]

12. My very first thought! Flying protein!

With a slight, crunchy, soft -shelled crab effect.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. Like white asparagus, so I've read ...

google "fried cicada"

[burrowowl]

9. Those are little

I saw one here in Albuquerque emerge that was almost 4", it is really neat to watch.

[InvisibleTouch]

10. Love cicadas. They are cool!

When I first moved to an area where they were abundant, the locals called them "locusts," and so did I for years afterward. But they are not true locusts, of course. I love their symphony in the trees.

[kentuck]

11. The worst I ever saw was in 1959...

in Kentucky

[Zax2me]

13. My cat is going to have a fat belly!

And my dog...

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. 13 years? We had them back in 03-04 somewhere in there. nt

[marzipanni]

15. "......there was a numerous company of Flies, which were like for bigness unto Wasps or Bumble-Bees,

they came out of little holes in the ground, and did eat up the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made all the woods ring of them, and ready to deaf the hearers;......"*

-Excerpt from the earliest published account of periodical cicadas. Reference is to the emergence in 1634 of a population of 17-year periodicals*from Marlatt, 1906, Circ. No. 74 . According to Marlatt, the account was originally reported in "New England's Memoriall" by Nathaniel Moreton in 1669.

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/enpl/bulletins/cicadas/cicadas.htm

North of Georgia there are 17-year periodical cicadas. The various broods overlap and have different cycles of appearance.

A close-up video of a male cicada doing his mating call- watch his tail end.-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOFCoWOU3no

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. cool video....

I sent links to my West Coast pals who have no idea how loud that sound can be around here.
There have been times when we have almost yell at each other outside to be heard.

[xchrom]

16. Huh they were out here last year in Durham. I expect them again. Nt