Cicadas, part 2
Jun. 11th, 2024 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerAs we walked through a leafy residential neighborhood in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on Sunday we saw— and heard— cicadas. These insects only come out once every 17 years (or 13; see below), and it had been more than 2x17 years since since we adults in the group had experienced their swarm.
At first we saw just a few cicadas in a tree next to us. As we lingered for a few minutes looking at them, the cicadas seemed to get more bold around us. They started flying around us, bumping into us, and even landing on our clothes and skin. One landed on my brother-in-law's shoulder, for example:
Bugs bouncing off and landing on our bodies was disorienting at first. I mean, the natural response when an insect buzzes around your face or lands on your skin is to swat it away. But the cicadas were kind of mellow. They weren't trying to bite us; it's like they were just resting. Or maybe exploring. Or maybe looking for a ride. Plus, swatting at them was kind of... ick... because they're so big they'd make a big splat if we squished them. 🤢
As we walked toward the house where roleplaying games and D&D were created the cicadas got thicker. Here's a quick video showing the swarm growing around us:
Prior to this spot my brother-in-law and I were already joking that we were exercising every horror movie trope, walking into danger with a swarm about to devour us. In the video you can hear me joking that I can practically hear the scary horror movie soundtrack rising around us. ...And BTW, the sound you actually hear in the video is the drone of literally thousands, maybe literally tens of thousands, of cicadas around us. 😨
A similar chart is in this article on Vox.com from May 2024.
We're in southern Wisconsin, in the dark brown region of this map. The area is part of Brood XIII, which was predicted to emerge this year (2024). You can see from the map coloring and legend that other broods emerge in different years. Most broods are on a 17 year cycle, though a few emerge every 13 years.
Curiously the map shows a square in the very southeastern corner of Wisconsin with no cicada brood. That aligns to our observations as that's where my sister and her family live, and there are no cicadas in their town or nearby towns.
At first we saw just a few cicadas in a tree next to us. As we lingered for a few minutes looking at them, the cicadas seemed to get more bold around us. They started flying around us, bumping into us, and even landing on our clothes and skin. One landed on my brother-in-law's shoulder, for example:
Bugs bouncing off and landing on our bodies was disorienting at first. I mean, the natural response when an insect buzzes around your face or lands on your skin is to swat it away. But the cicadas were kind of mellow. They weren't trying to bite us; it's like they were just resting. Or maybe exploring. Or maybe looking for a ride. Plus, swatting at them was kind of... ick... because they're so big they'd make a big splat if we squished them. 🤢
As we walked toward the house where roleplaying games and D&D were created the cicadas got thicker. Here's a quick video showing the swarm growing around us:
Prior to this spot my brother-in-law and I were already joking that we were exercising every horror movie trope, walking into danger with a swarm about to devour us. In the video you can hear me joking that I can practically hear the scary horror movie soundtrack rising around us. ...And BTW, the sound you actually hear in the video is the drone of literally thousands, maybe literally tens of thousands, of cicadas around us. 😨
Cicada Facts
If you're wondering why we're seeing cicadas in 2024 when you saw them last year or a few years ago, the reason is that there are a number of different regional broods that emerge in different years. There are a number of articles and diagrams about this you can find online. Here's a map I found in an Encyclopaedia Britannica article:A similar chart is in this article on Vox.com from May 2024.
We're in southern Wisconsin, in the dark brown region of this map. The area is part of Brood XIII, which was predicted to emerge this year (2024). You can see from the map coloring and legend that other broods emerge in different years. Most broods are on a 17 year cycle, though a few emerge every 13 years.
Curiously the map shows a square in the very southeastern corner of Wisconsin with no cicada brood. That aligns to our observations as that's where my sister and her family live, and there are no cicadas in their town or nearby towns.
