If you've been outside much lately in the Southern Cumberland area, you've probably noticed a loud, constant noise, primarily on or near the mountainsides. It's the latest emergence of the 13 year cicadas.
Cicadas aren't locusts, although they're often called that. There are four species of the genus Magicicada that follow a 13 year cycle. The cicada nymphs live underground, feeding on the juices of plant roots and going through five development stages before emerging from the ground in their 13th year. They then climb onto a nearby tree or such and molt, leaving their former skin clinging to the side of the tree.
Fortunately, cicadas don't bite or sting, but I've read that if one sits on you long enough, it might think you're a tree and stick you with a feeding probe. They can harm young trees. The females slit small branches to lay their eggs in them.
The cicadas tend to live only a few weeks, for the sole purpose of mating and laying eggs. After six to ten weeks, the eggs hatch and the newborn nymphs drop to the ground to burrow in for another 13 years.
There are other species of ciadas that are out every year, just in nowhere near the numbers of those on the 13 year cycle.
Bob Butters
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