17 year cicadas

Originally posted by mark e smith:
Ok, well when May rolls around, can you suburban dwellers let me know if you see a big swarm?

i would like to see a swarm too! they sound very interesting :)

Originally posted by mankie:
and the noise they make, while almost deafening, is somewhat relaxing.

like Wilco? or better?

They don't really "swarm" except dead on the ground. They can't fly very well, and they will come into your car if you are cruising around with the windows open.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
They don't really "swarm" except dead on the ground. They can't fly very well, and they will come into your car if you are cruising around with the windows open.

shit no "air conditioning" this summer then………….

Originally posted by sonickteam2:

Originally posted by mankie:
and the noise they make, while almost deafening, is somewhat relaxing.

like Wilco? or better?

It would be nice if Wilco only came round once every 17 years too…I could handle that, maybe.

this reminds me of when they last came and i was in high school and the boys would throw them in the girls' hair.
speaking of Jon Secada, I remember seeing him at this Red Cross festival in Old Town and the women swooning all over him!

they only last for about a month…or at least that is what i've been told…it seemed like they lasted all summer last time

my freshman year at college coincided with a similar event, except it was crickets. the campus smelled of dead and rotting crickets for a month or so. crunch crunch crunch

They are around about a month, but there are the early and late comers so you get more total time.

They are pretty damn big too, so watch out when you are speeding along, they are a mouthful.

Coolest is all their shells (they molt when they come out) all over the trees.

Originally posted by Sir HC:
They are around about a month, but there are the early and late comers so you get more total time.

The media circus cicada event lasts a few weeks from late May to mid June. That's just one or two species of cicada. Other species come out later in the summer but not nearly in the same numbers.

BTW, entomologists call our batch of cicadas Brood X , as in "brood number ten".

Brood X Fest, anyone?

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:

Originally posted by Sir HC:
They are around about a month, but there are the early and late comers so you get more total time.

The media circus cicada event lasts a few weeks from late May to mid June. That's just one or two species of cicada. Other species come out later in the summer but not nearly in the same numbers.

BTW, entomologists call our batch of cicadas Brood X , as in "brood number ten".

Brood X Fest, anyone?

"BROOD X" Great name for a local band….no?

Ugh. I remember growing up in Ohio and the year of the cicadas. The sound, the flying, the shells, the body parts. *shivers* They were everywhere! I am not looking forward to that at all. Yick!

Originally posted by MaLo:
i'm prepared to be grossed out…i remember them from last time, all over the place..but then i was 8 and enjoyed torturing them by pulling off their wings and legs and heads. Ugh…

In gym class we used to whack 'em with our tennis racquets.

I just thought of something: some people, out-of-towners and younguns, are probably wondering WTF about these things. They might be familiar with the few cicadas that come out every year. In the 17-year cycle of broods, most of the years are light or very light in numbers. But, in areas with large cicada populations, one year out of the seventeen has an enormous outbreak. They are often mistakenly called "locusts" even though they are completely different from grasshoppers; the outbreak is often refered to as a "plague" (of locusts).

This, boysandgirls, is a peak year for DC. Here comes the plague. An American plague. Made in America.

damnit, here comes my flying insect phobia

Originally posted by dudeman181:
damnit, here comes my flying insect phobia

Just imagine them as little fat people with wings. :D

Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
Here comes the plague. An American plague. Made in America.

smoking, or non-smoking?

I was just finishing 10th grade the last time the cicadas were here. I just remember they were everywhere in Arlington where I grew up. They definately made an impression on my friends and I. We spent a few afternoons gathering and burning massive amounts of those things. What else would you expect a 15 year old boy to do? My high school hardcore band even had a little number we made up called "Buckwheat's a Cicada". I have no recollection where the Buckwheat part came from, but I remember jamming on it in our drummer's basement after school

"Cicada….Buckwheat's a cicada………"

I also vividly remember the crunch crunch crunch of walking down the sidewalk. What a bizarre occurance. Now that I'm back in Arlington I'm sure my neighborhood will be overrun with them…

I was 8 at the time and living in Aspen Hill. The girl across the street from me was obsessed with them. She was the only girl I've ever known that wore a cicada t-shirt.

That crunch-crunch description was spot on. Surely there's a 4-track demo of "Buckwheat's a Cicada" floating around.

I can remember the last time we had those suckas.We would take out the BB gun and made a drinking game out of shooting them.Depending on how far away they were,you could give more drinks.Hardest part was figuring out which one was the intended target,which led to many arguments(gulp gulp)all in good fun of course.Made for a fun drunken afternoon or 2.