Every seventeen years the cicadas come out of the ground. They have been living underground in the larvae stage for seventeen years. However, there are some species that live a year in the ground and others live 13 years in the ground. The species that emerge after 17 years — this is their year, and BOY, can you hear them from our front porch. The woods are full of them.

Enjoy this short 1 1/2 minute video I took in the woods adjacent to our land.

From Encyclopedia Britannica: ”

Female cicadas usually lay their eggs in woody plant tissues that drop from the plant when, or shortly after, the eggs hatch. Newly hatched nymphs burrow into the ground where they suck juices from roots of perennial plants. Nymphs usually undergo five molts during the several years required to reach maturity. Although not ordinarily considered a pest, the females, if numerous, may damage young saplings during their egg-laying.

“More than 3,000 species of cicadas are known.  Among the most fascinating and best-known are the 17-year cicada (often erroneously called the 17-year locust) and the 13-year cicada (Magicicada). These species occur in large numbers in chronologically and geographically isolated broods.”

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