In addition to a global pandemic, several political injustices and the inescapable feeling of dread, nature is going to welcome a new group of friends onto Earth: more cicadas.
During late March, scientists have discovered the Brood X cicadas, a kind of periodical locust, will be awakening in time for spring, after 17 years of hibernation.
Brood X, also known as Brood 10 locusts, are one of the 15 broods of periodical cicadas that appear in the United States. The population of these kinds of cicadas are far larger than any of the other broods.
The last time these cicadas appeared was in 2004, where they fed on small plants and clung in swarms of brown.
The first known details of the Brood X cicada appeared in an entry from 1715 in the journal of a Philadelphian pastor.
The cicadas are expected to appear in 18 states including Delaware, Illinois, Georgia, Indiana, New York, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Michigan and also Washington D.C.
The danger of locusts are relatively low because they only feed on plants and shrubs, they provide almost no danger to humans (unlike the doomed murder hornets which for some reason disappeared). However, as many country folks in the USA know, cicadas are very loud.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlgjY08C5tQ For reference, here are the sounds of regular cicadas in America.
This noise is due to the contracting tymbal muscles of the male cicadas as they sing to attract mating partners. Of course, this call will be dangerously loud, hitting up to 90 decibels. This can lead to hearing problems if there is constant exposure to the noise.
Scientists are asking cicada witnesses to report their findings to further widen their research, at https://www.inaturalist.org/.
