A couple weeks ago, the Brood X cicada began emerging out of the ground around here for the first time in 17 years. Its a major natural event around these parts. The cicadas come out in plague like numbers, shed their exoskeletons, climb up into the trees to mate, all the while singing in an alien like tone. Many are deformed, many get smashed under foot, under car wheel, or hunted by birds, animals, and house pets. They hang around for about a month, flying around the trees, landing in people's hair and clothes, bumping into windows and walls. Many love them or hate them. Around the end of the month, the party will be over. The adults will die, the "baby" cicadas will fall from the treetops back into the soil where they will burrow underground never to be seen again until 17 years later. The picture above is what a mature adult looks like after shedding its exoskeleton, and the video is what it sounds like in the forest right now. It's incredible how loud they are at the moment!
