For the next 4-6 weeks, the sounds and sights of 13-year cicadas will dominate many backyards throughout the northern half of Georgia; this is particularly true if you live near a hardwood forest. These insects are members of Brood XIX.

       During this time as soon as soon as you step outside you are likely to hear a sound that could easily pass for the sounds made by aliens in a science fiction movie.  The males generate these calls. They are so loud, and high-pitched they can reach noise levels of 90-100 decibels. Some say they are as high as the sound levels reached by a jet taking off, or rock concerts.  Although these deafening calls may seem like noise to us, to a female cicada they are love songs.

       These insects are named 13-year cicadas because they emerge every 13 years.  During the rest of their lives, they live beneath the surface on the ground burrowing, eating and growing.

       During the year they are scheduled to leave their subterranean home, they begin emerging when the soil temperature reaches 64º F.  Their exit holes are about ½-inch in diameter.  Sometimes they feature an earth turret.

       Once they reach the surface of the ground, they seek vertical structures.  This may be a tree, building, shrub, vine, or garden tool. Once they have found the right place they climb upward and shed their skin (exoskeleton) for the final time.  It is fascinating to watch one break free from its tough outer covering.  It somehow fits its entire body through a tiny slit located behind its head.

       When it breaks free, it is now white and features eyes that look like tiny rubies.  The insects must then wait 4-6 days before they are ready to fly.  During this time, they change color.  Their head and body become black and its transparent wings will be fringed in orange.

       After mating, the males die. The females die after they have laid their eggs on tree branches.  Upon hatching, the nymphs fall to the ground and burrow into the soil. They will subsequently not see the light of day for 13 years.

       While the adults are flying about they are eaten by a wide variety of wildlife including squirrels, moles, foxes, spiders, turtles, tanagers, wild turkeys, grackles, robins, woodpeckers and blue jays.

       Fortunately, the 13-year cicadas are not poisonous, nor do they bite or sting.  In addition, they rarely cause damage to the trees on which they lay their eggs. However, it is possible for them to damage young trees.  This can be prevented by draping netting over the saplings.

       The emergence of the 13-year cicada is one of Mother Nature’s strangest events. Throughout the range of Brood XIX, literally trillions of cicadas will emerge this year.  It is estimated that in some places their numbers will reach a million or more per acre. Dr. James Larsen, an entomologist and assistant professor at the University of Kentucky describes this amazing event as, “the most macabre Mardi Gras that you’ve ever seen.”

       If you would like to see if the XIX brood’s known range includes your county, download the free app called Cicada Safari.  If you find that it has not yet been recorded there, you can document the occurrence of the insects in that county.