My My My My Cicadas

So, it's time! Wake up, you little cicadas... Rise and Shine!

It's been 17 years and the little guys (and girls) are popping up out of the ground. This is actually a fun time of year (every 17 years). The last time these creatures swarmed the area, I was 7. The only memory that I have of them is that my tennis coach at the time brought chocolate covered cicadas that his girlfriend had made.

Our back yard now is half an acre long. Behind the yard there is a little forest preserve. This is important to know while trying to understand the cicadas.

They work like this: Every 17 years, the cicadas pop out of the ground and make their way to the trees. They climb up the trees a little and come out of their shells. Then over a three or four week period, they mate and the guy dies. Then the girl cicada lays her eggs deep into the trees. In time, the eggs fall out of the trees and they burrow down into the ground (about 6-12 inches deep). Then in 17 years, they will re-appear.

Our cicadas started popping almost two weeks ago. But, we noticed there was something wrong. Their wings were all deformed and a lot were dying at the base of the trees. My husband and his mother didn't remember this happening (neither did I but I was far too young for it to really matter). Yesterday on the news, they talked about this phenomenon of disformed and dead cicadas. Apparently the cicadas pop out of the ground and have THREE minutes to get vertical, attach to something and pop out of their shells. When it takes longer than three minutes, they come out disformed or they just die! Can you imagine that?!?!?! You wait 17 years to come out and then you only have THREE MINUTES to determine whether or not you survive?!?!?!?!?!

 The other strange thing is that we've had a lot of white cicadas. They look like albinos.... Or aliens. Now, cicadas aren't known for their charming good looks... But these white ones really put the others to shame on the ugly scale!

While they are ugly as sin, they don't hurt anything.... They fly around and make a lot of noise but they are harmless. In fact, they actually help nature! The birds, squirrels and other small animals eat the cicadas and have full bellies. It's like a feast every 17 years!

What I haven't found out is why our area is the only area that has these little guys (and girls). Apparently, the aren't in Wisconsin, Michigan or Indiana. They are ONLY in the Chicagoland area and the surrounding suburbs. My sister just moved to Seattle and she DEFINITELY doesn't have them. In fact, I had to send her the pictures so she could see them.... Why is it just us? Does anyone know?

I published this because of the realization that most of the United States don't know anything about these little ones! You don't know what you're missing! : )