As we move into the warmth of summer, I can expect to hear crickets chirping, fireflies beginning to twinkle as night falls, and in July, you will hear the buzzing of the cicadas. Many associated that loud buzzing with a locust.

Cicadas and locusts are not one and the same. Cicadas belong to the insect order Hemiptera (true bugs) while locusts belong to the insect order Orthoptera. Locusts are really close relatives of grasshoppers. You have probably heard of plagues of locusts from biblical times, and they still are immense problems at times on the African continent today.

In the summer of 1979 I was working as a caretaker of my mother’s homestead about 2 miles from Andreas. Loud buzzing was drowning out the resident birds’ songs.

Close inspection revealed thousands of ghostly looking exoskeletons (dried outer covering of arthropods) clinging to tree trunks, grape vines, the undersides of leaves, even utility poles. On the trunks and poles nearly black cicadas with bright orange eyes and nearly transparent wings were “everywhere.”

The males were the ones making all the “noise” by rapidly (hundreds of times a second) flexing a special organ called a tymbal. The buzzing can be heard nearly a mile away. They were trying to attract females.

Ironically, this periodical cicada spends 17 years underground as a nymph where it attaches to a plant root to feed. They emerge almost as if an alarm clock were set for 17 years and 1 minute. They crawl from a 3/8-inch hole and climb the closest object. The exoskeleton on their back splits open, and a pale adult emerges, pumps fluid into its wings, darkens in color and climbs. Eventually mating occurs and in about two weeks they die.

The females move to the end of tree branches, cut ½-inch slits, and with a sawlike ovipositor, places her eggs. This usually causes the thin branch to die and it, or the hatching nymphs, drop to the ground. Here the life cycle begins again.

I’ve probably already written about the mysteries that nature has to offer and this is another. How do they all know when to emerge at the same time? The only thing that biologists do know is that the soil temperature is key as to when in the summer they “crawl from the earth” not how they know what year.

There are a number of broods of periodical cicadas. The U.S. Forest Service has identified 12 distinct broods. Some of our area will see brood X emerge in 2021. (the broods are assigned Roman numerals) All broods are found east of the Rockies.

I never had the chance to return to the “farm” in East Penn. My uncle, the farm’s owner, passed away and it has new owners. I wasn’t curious enough to keep checking every 17 years if they emerged again. Not to confuse you, there also is a brood of 13-year cicadas.

The annual cicada appears every year but not in great numbers. Male annual cicadas emerge and fly to perches where they produce a long, deep buzzing sound. After a few minutes they usually zip away to another perch and begin the buzzing again. If you can pinpoint the sound, try to sneak up and watch as it “buzzes away.” They are about 2 inches in size and not too hard to locate.

Remember, there are cicadas (annual and periodical) and separate species called locusts. See if you can locate those miniature “chain saw” type sounds this summer.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: White-tailed deer have a heart rate of 40-50 beats a minute while a hummingbird has a heart rate of ___ per minute. A. 150, B. 300, C. 800, D. 1,200.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The hognose snake is nicknamed the puff adder.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.