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Cicadas Coming to U.S. East Coast This Spring


Still Waters

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Normally, periodic cicadas spend their lives in complete darkness underground, sucking the fluid out of the roots of trees and shrubs. At the end of their life, they emerge, breed, and almost instantly die, completing a lifecycle that humans have studied for centuries.

In the process, however, they annoy millions of people with their constant chirping and, of course, the piles of dead cicada bodies on the ground. While some areas may see no cicadas at all, others in the past have seen millions of cicadas in a single acre.

http://news.national...animal-science/

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They can be annoying. Dead bodies all over the porch, crunch crunch crunch.

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I remember Cicada recipes were all the rage in high-end DC restaurants the last time this came around - less than 17 years ago though.

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My friend who lives in the Midwest has it far worse than I do down here in the South. I hear them every spring, but rarely see them. She, on the other hand, has to protect open drinks when she sits outside to enjoy a nice evening because she can end up with 3-4 in her drink. :cry::td:

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Gather and freeze them they make good fish bait.

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Billions of bugs to erupt from underground lair for the first time in 17 years

BILLIONS of love-lorn cicadas are set to awaken from a 17-year slumber to infest East Coast of the US with a buzzing racket that compares in magnitude to the sound of a New York subway train.

In one of nature's great mysteries, the bugs are expected to invade en masse along the East Coast this spring for about a month before disappearing again until 2030.

Cicadas appear every year on the East Coast, in the South, and in the Midwest United States, but the yearly cicada numbers pale in comparison to the huge influx of 17-year cycle insects.

Although the bugs are harmless to both trees and humans, experts have warned they will prove a nuisance because of the deafening sound they produce.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science-technology/390253/Billions-of-bugs-to-erupt-from-underground-lair-for-the-first-time-in-17-years

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i wonder if they are edible like locusts, i havent eaten Locusts either lol

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i wonder if they are edible like locusts, i havent eaten Locusts either lol

Most likely! But would you really want to? (Locusts and grasshoppers are the same thing anyway...sort of...so Ive read, tho locusts grow wings and can fly)..

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I've had locusts, other weird insects.. it's not the most tastiest thing in the world, but when hunger strikes, it is nutritious and tasty enough to for fill ones needs.. they should be boiled though, not fried - but that a subjective opinion..

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17 years underground and come up only to mate... bow chicka wow wow... it's gong to be nuts!

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17 years underground and come up only to mate... bow chicka wow wow... it's gong to be nuts!

heheh yeh :tu: Waiting for it for 17 years eh? id have been doing whatever I needed to keep strong and fit in that time period, so when I emerged...hehe.. Id be strong enough to be like the Duracell battery...(which keeps on going)! Not to mention fighting off the competition....I mean, you wouldn't want to wait all that time and then get an UGLY Cicada mate would you? :w00t:

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Edited by seeder
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i wonder if they are edible like locusts, i havent eaten Locusts either lol

Yes. I've seen people eat them. They compare the taste to a peanut or just nutty. No pun intended.

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heheh yeh :tu: Waiting for it for 17 years eh? id have been doing whatever I needed to keep strong and fit in that time period, so when I emerged...hehe.. Id be strong enough to be like the Duracell battery...(which keeps on going)! Not to mention fighting off the competition....I mean, you wouldn't want to wait all that time and then get an UGLY Cicada mate would you? :w00t:

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Love cicadas, you always know the heat is coming when they're out singing in the trees.

Not to mention, when they get caught by a bird or another insect, they make that loud screeching... I would too if I waited 17 years only to be eaten by a bird...

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Cicadas are REALLY noisy where I live (Spanish Mediterranean Coast) during the season - hopefully we dont have any "17 year cycle" cicadas!! :unsure2:

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I hate their shells. I have found them all over my trees in the backyard . You see the holes where they have burrowed up from too .

It's going to be loud ,but its not like we haven't had this occur before . Some people have nothing better to write about .

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This confuses me. It makes it sound like they've been living underground for 17 years. Have they? I didn't know insects lived that long.

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This confuses me. It makes it sound like they've been living underground for 17 years. Have they? I didn't know insects lived that long.

Time for some factoids then?

A cicada has three very different looks for the different stages of its life. First it starts off as an egg about the size of a grain of rice. When it hatches it is a creamy white nymph (nimf) with 4 little legs and two big pincer-like ones at the front, a bit like crabs claws. When it becomes an adult cicada it looses the pincer-like legs at the front and instead has 6 little legs and four wings which are totally see through except for the veins running through them. An adult cicada’s colour depends on the type of cicada it is – they’re usually green or black or brown.

Cicada eggs are laid in the bark of trees by the female cicada.

When the nymph hatches out of the egg it drops out of the tree and onto the ground. It uses its big front claws to tunnel into the ground where it stays for up to 17 years for some species of cicada!

Underground the cicada eats the sap from tree roots using its rostrum which is like two straws in one. It spits saliva down one straw onto the tree root to break it down and then uses the other straw to suck up the root juices. Charming!

Adult cicadas don't seem to eat much.

The noise that an adult cicada makes is made by the male and is his way of attracting a girlfriend.

It's pretty tricky to tell the difference between male and female cicadas but the female has a sharper, pointy "bottom" than the males because she has an ovipositor for laying eggs with.

http://www.suzy.co.nz/suzysworld/factpage.asp?factsheet=229

But I agree, 17 years is a long time for a bug

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Some people have nothing better to write about .

And some people don't have cicadas in their country so never get to hear them, or hear anything about them - except from articles as per the OP... so far as I know we certainly dont have them in the UK...

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let them find their own mate people.humans are so sensitive to everything these days.they get annoyed and etc.the point i am trying to make is they need to mate and well maybe the noise is a way or method for them to call the females.i personally don't find it disturbing just cover your ears simple as that.but sleeping for 17 years wow that's a lot these little critters are going to be so energetic and hungry lol

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The birds shall be very pleased this summer.

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The birds shall be very pleased this summer.

if you were UK/English thats a great innuendo!

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heheh yeh :tu: Waiting for it for 17 years eh? id have been doing whatever I needed to keep strong and fit in that time period, so when I emerged...hehe.. Id be strong enough to be like the Duracell battery...(which keeps on going)! Not to mention fighting off the competition....I mean, you wouldn't want to wait all that time and then get an UGLY Cicada mate would you? :w00t:

Oh, come on now, looks aren't everything. I mean, if you've waited 17 years I'm sure you wouldn't be too picky about who you share your DNA with...lol

Anyway, how can you tell a cute cicada from an ugly one? Lol

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I love listening to them every summer. I don't remember them being a particularly large problem 17 years ago. I saw more last years than I'd seen in a while. I guess those woke up early.

Edited by Michelle
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