They’re Coming
We here at Blue Crab Boulevard are well known for our thoughtful and calm reporting on all things relating to animals and particularly the Animal Uprising™. So longtime readers will note that when we raise an alarm, it is a very serious thing. We are doing so today. Because Brood XIII is coming. Yes, the feared and long-dreaded arrival of the hell spawn of Brood XIII are about to emerge with their deafening racket, clamoring for your very soul.
The Brood XIII cicadas will emerge from the ground after 17 years between now and June 1st.
CHICAGO - Coming soon: Brood XIII. It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it's actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.
The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don't bite or sting. But they are known for mating calls that produce a din that can overpower ringing telephones, lawn mowers and power tools.
Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois, and in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Cicadas live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal is mating.
They don't harm humans, although they are clumsy and might fly into people. Birds, squirrels and pets, especially dogs, love to eat them, and they are high in protein.
"They're going to have quite a meal. It's going to be like Thanksgiving for them," said Tom Tiddens, supervisor for plant health care at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
They are periodical cicadas, which are only found in the eastern half of North America. The annual, or dog-day cicadas, that appear every summer are common around the world.
The last massive emergence of periodical cicadas was in 2004, when Brood X emerged after 17 years underground in parts of 15 Eastern states. Some broods emerge after 13 years.
The last time they emerged, in 1990, they crashed a wedding:
An Illinois company that provides ice sculptures has turned down several outdoor parties over the next month. That's because of what happened when Nadeau Ice Sculptures owner Jim Nadeau delivered a swan statue to a wedding in 1990, during the area's last emergence of the periodical cicadas.
"We put our tray down and immediately the cicadas came off the ground and attacked the ice. Literally, it was a moving sculpture, this big black ugly mass of cicadas constantly moving," said Nadeau.
"I don't want to talk myself out of work, but that was just too gross," he said.
They went for the swan thinking it was the bride, of course. They won't make that mistake again. June brides, you have been warned.
By old_dawg, Sunday, 20 May , 2007 @ 8:54 pm
Another good reason to live in Texas.
By Sylvia, Monday, 21 May , 2007 @ 11:04 am
I remember my dad driving us through a swarm of cicadas in Utah back in the 70’s. It was creeeepy!