The Great Southern's Gonna Rise Again

2011 brings an uprising in the southeastern states again of the periodical cicada brood known as the Great Southern Brood. There are 13 different broods of periodical cicadas and the Great Southern is the largest. These red-eyed insects are called periodical because they spend 13 years as nymphs feeding underground, then they emerge all at once in the same year, usually at the same time. There are also 17 year cycle broods, but most of them are the northern (Yankee) species. The Great Southerns usually appear on a spring evening in late April or early May, depending on soil temperatures. There have been as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre during other emergences. Why? Probably because of the survival trait called predator satiation, also known as there's safety in numbers. This large mob all clicking around at once overcomes the reptiles and small mammals that prey upon them giving the cicadas plenty of time to let the magic happen. But predators be patient because after all the molting, singing, courting and egg laying there will be millions of dead bodies to feast upon in a short while- about 30 to 40 days. Only the males can sing and the noise is actually from the vibration of their tymbals, the ridged membranes on their abdomen. It is said that a large group like this can produce a white noise reaching 100db, about as loud as a jackhammer. I have never seen a large group but I have heard them once. The noise was so loud it drowned out my voice to the point it necessitated ending a cell phone conversation. People around me were running to their cars with their hands over their ears.
We had a pear tree in our yard when we were growing up and the yearly cicadas would hatch and molt around it every Spring. We found the discarded exoskeletons after molting to be great jewelry. They had tiny barbs on their front feet that made them instantly stick to your clothes, sort of like Velcro. We called them locusts, but locusts are a totally different animal that resemble the common grasshopper. I think it would be fun to see this Southern Brood emerge all at once but I don't know an exact location where this happens. I have read there are Cicada watch groups in Charlotte NC who are already making plans for the event this year.