The seventeen year cicadas are on their way back. They certainly are a novelty, if not a peculiarity. Strange thing though, although they are forecasted to emerge in my Mid-Atlantic area, they made a showing in 2013. I documented it here on my blog: Seventeen Year Cicadas.

I don’t recall seeing many in my town in 2013, just the ordinary thrumming bug that shows up each year. I decided the prediction of an emergence was a mistake. The prediction wasn’t in error, I was wrong; on a camping trip we found the area swarmed with the orange-dark green insects. The video was taken in Belleplain State Forest, which proves the point in the following link that cicadas are mainly found in wooded areas. “The Cicadas are Coming.”

The cicadas can damage new branch growth. They feed by sucking sap from tender twigs, while the nymphs in the ground feed by sucking juices from plant roots.

As I was trying to figure out how seventeen years have passed since 2013, I came upon an article that explained the phenomenon – Magical Early Cicadas. It seems there are different ‘broods’ of cicadas, hatching at different times. The article also explained that seventeen year cicadas that emerge ahead of schedule are called stragglers. I’ll be watching for them, and hopefully, as in the last brood that hatched, they will not visit my gardens, but stay in the forest where they belong.