First Of Millions Of Predicted Cicadas Begin To Emerge
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) -- The 17-year cicadas are coming again, millions of them, with their unnerving red eyes, orange wings and cacophonous mating song that can drown out the noise of passing jet planes.
For those who have an aversion to prawn-size, flying bugs, the next six weeks or so will be like a long horror-movie scene in large swaths of Ohio and West Virginia and slivers of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland.
Cicadas have already started emerging in parts of the area. They come out every 17 years in what are called broods.
"You've got to make sure you all come out together, so you can find each other, mate and reproduce," said John Rawlings, and entomologist at Carnegie Museum.
Dan Hower sent KDKA this photo of the cicadas on trees in Friendship Hill National Park in Fayette County.
"I was taking a walk in Friendship Hill Park and saw them hanging out," Hower said. "They're scary looking, have giant red eyes."
In reality, though, cicadas are harmless and actually good for the environment.
"You can get up to a million and a half in an acre that is infested," Bob Davidson, Carnegie Museum Collection manager said.
Their egg-laying in the trees is a natural pruning that results in increased growth, their burrowing aerates the ground, and their decaying bodies add nutrients to the soil.
However, they are a little loud.
"They're extremely loud," Hower said. "If you work a midnight shift, you may have trouble sleeping in the morning."
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Throughout the five counties of Southwestern Pennsylvania, they find each other. In no time, the female is digging ruts in tree limbs and depositing eggs, which is where the damage comes in.
