The Cicadas are coming!! The Cicadas are coming!!

The Cicada is an insect that is pretty large and has wings.  The east coast of the United States is about to be hit with a wave of cicadas from a Brood II infestation(?).  Apparently there are two prominent types of cicadas.  The ones that live underground for two to eight years and the ones that live underground for seventeen years.  This is the year of the coming of the seventeen year breed.

Now it is rumored these guys will be in the millions this coming week. (Maybe next week).  According to the all knowing Wikipedia  these little guys only live about 4 to 6 weeks after maturing to the adult version.

I am no expert on insects.  I do not pretend to know all that much.  That is why a wanted a little more information on these critters to make sure there was no danger for me or my family.

Turns out they are pretty much harmless.  To humans anyway.  The female will crack open a tree limb or two and plant thousands of new eggs for 2030.  I am sure I don't want to see them again.  However, I am sure I will.  If blogger is still going strong in 2030, I will have to write something about them again.

Now as you can tell from these photos, they have wings.  I am not sure why, I have never seen one fly.  There are about 15 or so flopping around in my driveway and front porch.  I was watching them earlier today and it looks like they are crawling everywhere.  Then when they get flopped over, they struggle to get back on their feet.  Do they fly away? Nooooo.

Anyway, here in NOVA, we are preparing for the infestation.  How you might ask?  Everyday I get up and I go to work.  That is about it.  You can search on the web and find some ways to protect your trees, however, I have mostly pines and they don't like pines.

Have a great week.