Chinghis

I remember the 1987 Brood X on the East Coast. Cars get pretty messed up, but I don't remember a problem with cycling.

woodcraft

My wife swallowed a bug while running a week ago. 3 or 4 days later she coughed up a bug encased in hard mucous.

If it was a cicada, she might have needed the Heimlich maneuver.

fredlord

Fascinating. We definitely get cicadas in Australia, but they don't do the 14- or 17-year thing. They do seem to be more common some summers than others.

Gonna go out on a limb here and say Australian cicadas seem to be better looking than American ones, judging from the pictures. Australian kids used to collect them and trade them like football cards. Yellow Mondays, Greengrocers, Black Fridays are some of the names I remember. This was before kids became phone zombies.

Bill in VA

That was my impression exactly. It sounded just like the old 1950s sci-fy movies about flying saucers. It is an ongoing wavering hum that as the various tones and volumes increase, decrease and combine gives a quavering sound.

Our first dog chased and ate them like mad the first day they were out. As expected he threw up and never ate one after, but he did chase them.

If you are a photographer, these are perfect subjects to perfect your macro- and micro-photography. They hold still enough to get good sharp shots and real close-ups.

KPREN

I was getting hit with a lot of gnats a couple weeks ago and remembered that I had purchased a head bug net at WalMart last fall for a couple bucks. I dug it out and it popped over my head and came down and loosely fit over my neck just perfect. I put my helmet back on and rode. It was nice to ride through clouds of bugs and be able to breath and not get them in my eyes. I could see just fine with my glasses on under the net. I would recommend it for anyone whom hates bugs. Its really small and light. It goes with me now.

indyfabz

Heh. Totally forgot about that. As kids we used to predict a hot, sunny day by the amount of cicada noise. Thanks for jogging my memory.

indyfabz

We are bracing for another spotted lantern fly crop again this year in Philly. What pests. I can walk a block from my office building to a c-store and literally stomp dozens without going much out of my way. Last year I would leave the office and often find them on my bike. At my local, which has outdoor seating, they would often land on patrons. But kitty thinks they are fun to swat around.

Bill in VA

I was up in Lehigh County last year and they were really bad. They were everywhere.

kahn

But we also don't have Fire Flies - darn it. I miss fire flies.

bikehoco

I doubt many people do it these days but you certainly can’t sleep with your windows open.

indyfabz

Yep. Unfortunately, birds don’t seem to eat them. During the height of the season building workers are either sweeping up the dead ones or vacuuming them with what is essentially a reverse leaf blower all day. We got an email encouraging us to stomp them.

indyfabz

There is a small community garden across the street from my house with a large tree. This will be the first time I have lived there since Brood X has emerged. Wondering what it will be like. This time of year, the birds are loud enough. I often shut my windows because they start making a racket around 5 am.

#WeNeedMoreHawksInTheCity

gringomojado

yes

gringomojado

what beer pairs well with cicadas?

Bill in VA

It all comes down to the number of clicks for the media. How many times in recent years have you seen a headline and had to re-read the article to even find the nexus to the headline.

Cicadas are not a hazard, and are actually fun. People say they kill trees, but that is usually old already endangered trees. We saw lots of damaged little branches at the last hatch, but there was no evidence of any damage or bare dead branches the next year.

Just media drama and hyperventilating, rather than teaching about the science and facts of the cicada lifestyle, which means actually doing research or fact checking, they print BS.

Bill in VA

The same beer that pairs well with everything..., Lagunitas Little Sumptin' Sumptin' Extra IPA

Reflector Guy

I'd choose the cicadas any day over the stinkbugs we were getting a few years ago or the biting ladybugs we got a few years before that.

Iride01 

Or lovebugs. Those things make a mess since they seem to enjoy splattering on moving cars for several weeks of the year here.

indyfabz

Ewww. Glad we don't have them up here in the NE.

indyfabz

We had am explosion of them several years ago in Philly. I would eat lunch in this park near the office and find them crawling on me. Swat them away and they would come crawling right back. Seem to have abated the last few years.

skier

Worst ad ever paired with the bottom of the first page of this thread

jaxgtr

Horrible acid filled little creatures. ruin your car paint if you don't wash your car off. Luckily, they are not super heavy where I live, but my sister lives in ground zero for the Florida population, right across central part of the state. I hate going to her house when they are in bloom.

The Chemist

We get lots of cicadas every summer here in Shanghai (when the buzz of cicadas begins, that's when you know summer has truly arrived) and I've never run into one ever while cycling. They pretty much stick to the trees around here.

rekmeyata

Americans like to freak out over bugs, it's weird! The Cicadas do the same thing here as they do where you live, the stick to the trees, sometimes you see their corpses on the pavement, but those are mostly the shells left over after birds sucked their bodies out, but other than that it's extremely rare if you run into one here in the US too while cycling so rare I yet to run into one.

indyfabz

Bug Eric: Cicada shells