Year of the Cicadas

I wanted to write something about the 17-year cicadas making an appearance in the Mid-Atlantic States. The next time they emerge, I will be 80 years old. I may not remember them from 2013 or even be alive to try remembering!

I did a little fact searching and discovered that there are both 13-year and 17-year cicadas (Magi cicada) that spend most of their lives underground feeding on fluids from the roots of deciduous trees in the eastern United States. After 13 or 17 years, mature cicada nymphs emerge at any given locality, synchronously and in tremendous numbers. After such a prolonged developmental phase, the adults are active for only about 4 to 6 weeks. The males gather into chorus centers and attract mates. Within two months of the original emergence, the life cycle is complete, the eggs have been laid and the adult cicadas are gone for another 13 or 17 years.

The cicadas are not found everywhere in the Mid-Atlantic States. There are none in Lancaster, PA where I live, but they are noisily present in Warren, NJ, where my daughter lives, among other places. In fact, the noise is so deafening at her house, the cicadas can be easily heard when indoors with all doors and windows closed. We know someone who pulled his car over to the side of the road when entering the cicada area, thinking that the loud noise indicated that something was wrong with his car. Our grandson, born in late May at the height of the season, has never experienced the outdoors without the cicada crescendo. Perhaps, to him, it may recall the endless shushing noise of the womb.

Our other New Jersey grandson is not bothered by the harmless insects which are all over the deck, driveway, and yard of his house. He likes to tease me with the offer of a cicada quesadilla for lunch. It is right up there in his three-year-old humor with the bugger burger and the peanut butter and toe jam sandwich. While I do not plan to eat any cicadas, a friend suggested sautéing them in garlic and butter for a pleasant, nutty taste. Okay for some, but not for me.

Are any of you experincing a cicada infestation where you live?