Cicada Slam
I stumbled into a hatch of the 13-year cicadas back in 2011. I was hiking a local "greenway" trail when I heard a noise that sounded like a waterfall but it was in the middle of the woods. I went offtrail to find the source. When I found it there were so many little red-eyed cuties singing that it was like being inside a jet engine. I didn't know much about them then and it was the first time I had ever seen any of the periodical cicadas. It was so spectacular that I went back and dragged the unwilling kids out to hear/see them.
Fast forward 13 years and the XIX brood is out again. The "kids", adults now actually, have been spamming the family text thread for weeks looking forward to seeing them again. My son bought 4 acres that borders a large pond and his property is covered with them.
My point is, especially if you have kids, take this opportunity to go see and hear this event while they're still out.
It's a little confusing but there are 3 species of 17-year cicadas, and 4 species of 13-year cicada spread across a possible 30 broods (but there is really only about 15 active broods). Some broods only have a subset of the total number of species. But, the long and short of this post is that 2024 is very special year since the 13-year Brood XIX is hatching the same time as the 17-year Brood XIII. Both broods have all possible species represented so if you want to do the cicada slam, 2024 is your year because 1803 was the last time Broods XIX and XIII hatched together and it won't happen again until 2245...
From my son's house...
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Phone Man
Bookmarks