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April 28, 2004
brood x is coming
There are tidy little tunnels opening out into our garden. When it rained Monday, the pinky-sized tunnels were meticulously cleared of mud by something. Something is preparing to escape...something is coming...BROOD X.
The Maryland / D.C. area is expecting a swarm of emergent 17-year cicadas. They are waiting for the right temperature and humidity settings, and will soon be out making quite a ruckus. I remember hearing some cicada odd noise, like the sound of your grandma's Buick when the door was left open, back when I was in little league one summer in Wisconsin. Maybe that wasn't Brood X, but I'm pretty sure they were cicadas. Around here, I've already seen robins sampling some of the less wary nymphs who poked their heads out of their holes, and I have found some fortified tunnels out in the garden as well. It should be pretty cool, but I have my earplugs ready.
What if Walt Disney did the sketches for Peterson's Field Guide? Go check out The Strange Menagerie of Carrie E. Graham. I want to see it in a show some time soon!
Posted by jimbo at April 28, 2004 11:24 AM
Comments
I was here 17 years ago when they last appeared, they were everywhere. My Father was stationed at Ft. Detrick at the time. It was nasty, the little mutant nymphs crawling up everything from tree trunks to brick walls. then molting leaving behing the nasty looking husks. Flying around and hitting everything and everyone in sight. It was just nasty. And then there is the crunching sound as you walk about in certain areas. Ewwww
This site has a lot of info on the little monsters
http://www.msj.edu/cicada/
Makes me wish I had and Enviromental Suit like T'Pol has.
Posted by: Dax at April 28, 2004 1:51 PM
the strangest thing is the weird ubiquitous noise of millions of these little guys all "whirring" at once - like in some B science fiction movie. The strangest thing is that after a few days you actually get used to it.
I have a T-shirt around from the 1987 invasion - I'll have to dig it out....
Posted by: Andy at April 28, 2004 2:12 PM
I remember cicadas from my previous life in Houston. They were just part of the background noise, but they were often so loud you could be in your car on the freeway (with the windows down) and still hear them.
Houston also had annual June bug infestations. Come to think of it, Houston had all kinds of insect infestations.
Posted by: rob at April 28, 2004 4:01 PM
i remember brood x. they were all over our yard, my mom and i went out and collected a couple buggers crawling up the fence and pickled em. they're pretty cool creatures. you eventually get used to their weird pulsing buzz. look for the small cuts they leave in small twigs, a tell tale sign.
Posted by: kiri at April 28, 2004 7:16 PM
The Boyfriend is sad that our trip to Northern Virginia will be at the tail end (no pun intended) of the Brood, if it overlaps at all. Personally I'm a little more squeamish about them but am at least a little curious about the phenomenon. I look forward to your pictures, Jimbo.
Posted by: Casey at April 29, 2004 4:26 AM