Shrimp of the dirt

[Walt34]

We get these in Texas that help keep down the Cicada populations. I hate it though when the start to bore into your yard.
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef004

Sounds like they'd be very good for aerating the soil. You won't need to rent an aerator this year.

We haven't seen or even heard a one yet but we're kind of right on the edge of where the map indicates brood X will emerge. I do remember being inundated with them when we lived closer to D.C.

 

[friar1610]

We saw very few in our area in 2004. On the other hand, a nephew graduated from law school in DC in 2004, and around the campus we heard lots of cicada noise and saw piles of dead cicadas and cicada shells under many trees.

I lived in the DC area on a couple of different occasions. I think I went through 2 cycles of cicadas. Was a runner then and used to hate the crunching noise under my feet on my daily runs.

 

[LOL!]

A cicada killer is an impressive wasp to see in action. I love them.

 

[Koolau]

I lived in the DC area on a couple of different occasions. I think I went through 2 cycles of cicadas. Was a runner then and used to hate the crunching noise under my feet on my daily runs.

DW and I got stranded over night in a city a little south of Portland O - rental car breakdown. 10 at night and we were walking to a near by pizza joint. I warned DW not to step in the dog doo all over the sidewalk. THEN, it MOVED. Slugs the size of, well, you know. GOTTA be a lot worse to run on THAT than cicadas. Crunch is way better than squish IMHO but YMMV.

 

[harley]

We bought our first SFH 35 years ago, and got our pup that same year. The next year was Brood X year, which decimated our new plantings and landscaping. Those little suckers could cut a thin sapling in half there were so many of them slicing into it. But Jake (pup) loved them. He'd go out and pick them right off the tree. We didn't hardly have to feed him for most of a month. I just figured it was the doggie version of an AYCE shrimp joint.

Fast forward 17 years, and the little critters are back. Poor old Jakey was arthritic and couldn't see too well, but he still loved him some cicadas. So we spent a few weeks plucking them off the plants and giving to him. He died a couple months later, but he died fat and happy. Obviously they didn't hurt him. 17 and 1/2 years is a ripe old age for a terrier mutt.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I’m in the mid-Atlantic and haven’t seen any. And it’s been 90 degrees for the past week.

 

[harley]

And I was in Columbia MD today, probably less than 50-75 miles from south central PA, and there were hundreds of them around. The sound made conversation outside difficult unless you were standing close by. But it's an older community, and the ground hasn't been significantly disturbed in the past 20 (or 40) years. New construction tends to wipe them out.

 

[eytonxav]

Oh, we also seem to have a lot of cicadas every year. Not sure the 17 year cycle applies in Texas

 

[anethum]

Scientific American has a very good article about cicadas, and has maps for all of the different broods of 17 year cicadas.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...s of cicadas,South and the Mississippi Valley.

"Nearly 3,400 species of cicadas exist worldwide. But periodical cicadas that emerge en masse once every 17 or 13 years are unique to the eastern U.S. The 17-year cicadas live in the North, and the 13-year cicadas are found in the South and the Mississippi Valley. The three species of 17-year cicadas—Magicicada septendecim, M. cassinii and M. septendecula—form mixed-species cohorts called broods whose members arise like clockwork on the same schedule."


Here in the DC area, I've been hearing one sound in the morning, beginning 5 days ago. As the day warms up, the noise is joined by different sounds from presumably the other species.