The "noisy little buggers" in question are cicadas, known as Brood X because of the long time they spend underground as juveniles. A few come out every year, but every 17 years something extraordinary happens in the eastern US as billions emerge across several states. The result is a noisy, sticky, scrunchy mess.
But while the mess left by the inch-long insects will present an inconvenience during the six weeks they are expected to be present, it is the noise that will create the true discomfort.
Each male cicada produces a mating call so loud it registers between 80 and 100 decibels, the equivalent of a noisy car engine or a lawnmower. With anything between 100,000 and 1m expected per acre, the noise should be phenomenal.
The 17-year Brood X hibernation period comes to an end when the inch-long nymphs emerge from the ground, shed their skins and turn into adults with black bodies, red eyes and orange-veined wings.
After a week, the female cicadas will lay eggs, which hatch after another six weeks. The babies, or nymphs, then fall to the ground and burrow into the soil, where they stay, sucking on the sap of tree roots, for another 17 years, or until 2021.
"In 1970, the cicadas' arrival had a locust-type effect like the plague," Robert Pitt of Allens Tree Service in Washington told the LA Times. "But in 1987 it was not nearly as bad."
Cicadas, as bug enthusiasts point out, differ from locusts. Although both can arrive in swarms after long periods of hibernation, cicadas are harmless and do not destroy crops and plants. Their main failing is their bad eyesight, which causes them to fly into anything that vaguely resembles a tree, including humans.
This year's "emergence", as websites refer to the coming event, will cover 15 states, from New York as far west as Illinois and as far south as Georgia. The centre is expected to be in Cincinnati.
All I can say is thank goodness I live in far off Europe, I think that noise would drive me mad
Commiserations to all our American cousins who'll have to put up with this
Mark
