Brood X Cicada

[Goalpost]

Here in Ohio and in other parts, be prepared. It is certain that by the middle of May or so, the 17 year cicada will come out of the ground and fill our ears with lots of noise. I think brood x is the big one.

[Wes Mantooth]

Question for older posters...

Is it just me, or does it seem like the the cicadas we got in 1987 were way more than what we've gotten since?

I know this makes no sense, as they come back every 17 years so that brood would have already returned once. But I swear it seemed like there were cicadas everywhere. I remember just walking around and stepping on them and hearing a crunching sound, I remember the trees being filled with them. But it seems like they've neber returned in those numbers. (Guess that brood returned in 2004??? Due back this year???)

Of course this could all be in my head too. I was just a kid when this happened, and I probably made into a bigger memory than what it was. Fwiw, I could be wrong on the year, but it was in the late 80's, early 90's. It was when the Snappy Cicada Pizza jingle was around.

Am I nuts, or do others people remember the same way I do (way more cicadas than anytime since)?

[fredtoast]

(03-15-2021, 11:27 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Am I nuts, or do others people remember the same way I do (way more cicadas than anytime since)?

I was living in Nashville in '99-'00 and they came out like crazy there.  They were swarming everywhere.  Piles of them in Centennial Park.  I walked two blocks from my parking garage to my office and I had to pick them off my clothes before I went in.

As far as I know they did not return that strong in '16-'17.

Can't remember any major swarms here in East Tennessee, and except for that time in Nashville, and few years ibn Colorado in the early '90's I have lived here since 1981.

[Goalpost]

(03-15-2021, 11:27 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Question for older posters...

Is it just me, or does it seem like the the cicadas we got in 1987 were way more than what we've gotten since?

I know this makes no sense, as they come back every 17 years so that brood would have already returned once.  But I swear it seemed like there were cicadas everywhere.  I remember just walking around and stepping on them and hearing a crunching sound, I remember the trees being filled with them.  But it seems like they've neber returned in those numbers.  (Guess that brood returned in 2004??? Due back this year???)

Of course this could all be in my head too.  I was just a kid when this happened, and I probably made into a bigger memory than what it was.  Fwiw, I could be wrong on the year, but it was in the late 80's, early 90's.  It was when the Snappy Cicada Pizza jingle was around.

Am I nuts, or do others people remember the same way I do (way more cicadas than anytime since)?

One reason might be that the population is greater now and more construction has happened affecting the ground. Perhaps more chemicals on people's yards.  I remember a lot of them when I was younger also.  But in seventeen year intervals it's hard to gauge. I think certain parks and such, natural habitats, will be loaded.

[MileHighGrowler]

(03-15-2021, 11:27 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Question for older posters...

Is it just me, or does it seem like the the cicadas we got in 1987 were way more than what we've gotten since?

I know this makes no sense, as they come back every 17 years so that brood would have already returned once.  But I swear it seemed like there were cicadas everywhere.  I remember just walking around and stepping on them and hearing a crunching sound, I remember the trees being filled with them.  But it seems like they've neber returned in those numbers.  (Guess that brood returned in 2004??? Due back this year???)

Of course this could all be in my head too.  I was just a kid when this happened, and I probably made into a bigger memory than what it was.  Fwiw, I could be wrong on the year, but it was in the late 80's, early 90's.  It was when the Snappy Cicada Pizza jingle was around.

Am I nuts, or do others people remember the same way I do (way more cicadas than anytime since)?

I was pretty young in '87 and don't really remember them.  But the next set in '04 I do remember well and we had TONS by my house.  I tried recording some video outside and the audio was distorted from the noise of the insects.  I was originally planning to go to a big park to find a bunch of them for the video I was making, but never had to leave my own yard because the numbers were outrageous.  I remember going outside at night and hearing them all crawling out of the ground and up the trees (several old trees in that backyard).  During the day you couldn't so much as step outside without them flying into you, and they were littered all over the yard, driveway and sidewalk.  It was a constant cloud around the trees of them coming in and out and flying all over.  And then the awful stench when they died and started piling up, especially under the trees.

So maybe it just depended on where you were for the numbers.  

[*michaelsean*]

It’s super nice towards the end when you can smell all the decomposing bodies.

[grampahol]

As a little kid (I'm still a little kid, but just taller) I used to think the overhead wires were about to explode.. I remember a TV show at one point that used a very similar sound right before an explosion so of course I put 1 and 2 together to get 4..