On May 23rd I made it out to eastern Mercer County, New Jersey to too look for Brood X cicadas. Specifically, I made it out to West Windsor Township, its famous neighborhood Gover’s Mill, and nearby Plainsboro Township.
Overall the emergence in the area was underwhelming. Some holes, some exuvia (skins), and even fewer cicadas. Throughout the area, I heard individual calls by Magicicada septendecim and Magicicada cassini, but no choruses. I was there between noon and 5 pm. The temperature was somewhere between 85 and 90 degrees fahrenheit. The soil and air were very dry.
The best location was Van Nest Park in Grover’s Mill (in West Windsor). There, every suitable tree had a dozen or more exit holes around its roots. Most trees had at least 12 exuviae on them, and a few had cicadas crawling in them.
Van Nest Park is best known for the War of the World’s monument on its grounds. In this photo, Orson is sharing a mic with a cicada:
It breaks my heart to see cicadas with shriveled wings. This one was in Van Nest Park:
Ronald Roger’s Arboretum, also in West Windsor, had plenty of exit holes along its hiking trails, but very few exuviae, and only one audible singing Magicicada septendecim.
In Plainsboro, the Lenape Trail offered nothing in terms of cicadas, but I could hear cicadas singing nearby. Waters Edge Park had exuviae hanging from tree leaves, but no visible adult cicadas, and a few audible M. septendecim. I did see one fisherman using a cicada for bait.
Either the Brood X emergence was very light in this area, and most were wiped out by birds, or it is still early. I will do my best to check this location again to be sure.
Brood X will emerge in 2021, and people will want to travel to see and hear them. Should you decide to travel to witness Brood X or any cicada emergence in the U.S., be cautious and considerate of the following:
Be respectful of private property
Periodical cicadas thrive in neighborhoods and campuses with old hardwood trees and grass lawns, as you’ll find in places like Princeton, New Jersey. Don’t traipse and trample onto private property without permission and always visit local parks, instead of neighborhoods, when possible.
Observe local laws and customs
This should go without saying: obey local laws. Do not: litter, trespass, speed, j-walk, etc. Don’t give cicada fans a bad name.
Be prepared to practice social distancing and to wear a mask, even if just as a courtesy. I noticed that even outdoors in public parks, people in New Jersey wear masks.
Do not bring Spotted Lanternflies home with you
Spotted Lanternflies are true bugs, just like cicadas, but they are very, very destructive pests and an “invasive species”. Like the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website says, they “cause serious damage including oozing sap, wilting, leaf curling, and dieback in trees, vines, crops and many other types of plants”! They kill the trees cicadas call home.
Pennsylvania and western New Jersey are loaded with Spotted Lanternflies, so if you travel to those states to see Brood X cicadas, make sure you check your vehicle and belongings for Lanternfly hitchhikers. Don’t bring them home with you. At this time of year, I believe they are still in their black phase.
Long Island (NY), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and nearby states are loaded with Lyme Disease carrying Blacklegged/Deer Ticks. I’ve known people who have Lyme Disease and it practically ruined their lives. Unfortunately, ticks are found in the same areas as cicadas, like parks, yards, and forests. The CDC website has tips for preventing tick bites on people that I highly recommend you read and follow their tips. I personally wear pyrethrum-treated clothes when outdoors in New Jersey.
Different types of Magicicada periodical cicada holes found in Princeton, NJ. Brood X, 2021. Generally speaking, their holes are about the size of a dime. You won’t see a spray or kickback of soil around the hole like you would when an animal is digging into the soil rather than coming out of it (cicadas are coming out).
Typical dime-sized cicada holes
A hole with a corresponding mini cicada-chimney
A golf ball sized chimney over a hole
A hole borrowed into a hay bale laying on the ground
A hole in moss
Holes in the underside of a rotten log, with a nymph!
Cicadas will burrow up from the soil of the ground and keep going into the rotting wood of a rotten log! I had to roll the log over to see it.
One of the most fun periodical cicada experiences is watching thousands of nymphs emerge from the ground at night, crawl to the nearest vertical surface (hopefully a tree) and begin to molt.
This is a video by Roy Troutman from 2007 of the Brood XIII emergence, specifically in Ryerson Woods in Illinois:
Elias Bonaros found cicadas in 2021 in Bohemia County Park and East Setauket.
Brood X periodical cicadas will emerge this spring (May) in the eastern U.S. — hopefully in Long Island as well. Chris Simon asked me to post this on the site. Brood X cicadas were hard to find in Long Island on 2004 — so we really want to find so, and how Long Islanders can help. Report cicadas with the Cicada Safari app.
Brood X may have breathed its last breath on Long Island! Or maybe not. This year may in fact reveal localities that we missed in 2004. It may capture people’s imagination just like the hunt for the last Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Arkansas or the last Tasmanian Tiger in Tasmania.
Brood X cicadas were previously found on Long Island and it is unclear whether they are extinct or not! We are hoping to advertise the Cicada Safari app to your readers so they can help us find Brood X.
Attached is the Newsday article from 2004 that describes the previous Brood X emergence. Sites include Shirley, and Connetquot River State Park Preserve in Oakdale (Northeast section), and Ronkonkoma.
This locality info for Long Island is from the appendix of Simon and Lloyd 1982, J. N.Y. Ent. Soc.
It documents the historical decline of Brood X on Long Island as follows…
1902: Davis (1920) quoted the eighteenth report of the N.Y. State entomologist (1902. p. 113) as follows, “The insects were observed… at Wantagh. Nassau Co., also between Massapequa and Amityville, between Sayville and Oakdale, east of Patchogue to Brookhaven and also to the north of Medford and Holtsville, and a small brood [sic] northeast of Riverhead, all in Suffolk Co.” Davis (1907) reported that although a friend had seen hundreds of exuviae of the 17 -year locust in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. he had only obtained three adults and he “attributed their scarcity to the English Sparrow.”
1919: The New York Times of June 17th, 1919 (p. 25:3) talked with farmers in the vicinity of Farmingdale, Bethpage, and Massapequa who reported thousands of cicadas doing damage to fruit trees and other hardwoods. Old residents claimed that 17 years before they were not nearly so numerous. Daviis (1919) recorded” 1 7 -year cicadas singing at Mastic, L.L during the first week of June.” In another publication (Davis 1920) he noted them as occurring on South Country Road just cast of Carman’s River, and in the woods just east of Patchogue; also from Wantagh to Farmingdale and as far north as Central Park on Long Island; finally, north and east of Massapequa railroad station.
1936: The New York Times (June 12, 1936, p. 4:7) reported that the cicadas were found “first in Carmen Ave., Farmingdale … since then the swarms have been reported at Massapequa, and all through Suffolk scrub oak along the Motor Parkway from Medford westward to Farmingdale.” They were also seen along the Sunrise Highway in Massapequa Park.
1970: Newsday (June 5, 1970, p. 12) lists two exact localities Skylark Drive (Holtsville) and Springdale Drive (Ronkonkoma). They explained that “officials of the State Conservation Department and County Agricultural Extension Service said … that they have received hundreds of complaints this month about the insects. Most of the calls have come from an area including Ronkonkoma, Holtsville, Islip, and Sayville. where the influx is concentrated.” The same newspaper (June 23. 1970) reported 17-year cicadas in Bohemia on eighth Street near the South Side Sportsman’s preserve. They must have been abundant because “50 Bohemia residents … signed petitions appealing for help to fight the alarming problem of swarming cicada locusts [sic].”
Other, more recent, records…
1987: Suffolk Co. Long Island. Chris Simon and her student Andrew Martin collected periodical cicadas at Bohemia Equestrian Park in Oakdale and in Shirley.
2004: Suffolk Co. Long Island. Bryn Nelson of Newsday reports that periodical cicadas, “made only cameo appearances this year — first in East Setauket and later in Connetquot River State Park Preserve in Oakdale….Particularly vexing is the sputter at Connetquot, which reported masses of cicadas in its northeastern section both in 1987 and in 1970. Gary Lawton, a regional environmental education coordinator for New York State Parks, reported hearing a few cicadas at the park about three weeks ago….But after a few days, the calling abruptly stopped.” Residents of Shirley near the South Shore of Long Island, who saw them in 1987, did not see an emergence in their yards in 2004.
Some more locations from 1987 compiled by Thomas Kowalsick of the Cooperative Extension of Cornell University (specific addresses redacted):
Loughlin Drive, Shirley, NY
Happy Acres Drive, Shirley, NY
Malba Drive, Shirley, NY
Windus Drive, Shirley, NY
Peconic Street, Ronkonkoma, NY
Springdale Drive, Ronkonkoma, NY
Julia Goldback Avenue, Ronkonkoma, NY
Goldbach Avenue, Bohemia, NY
Connetquot River State Park, Oakdale, NY
Mayflower Lane, Setauket, NY
Brood X emerged in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York (not yet extinct), Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. Report them with the Cicada Safari app. Use the hashtag #BroodX or #BroodXCicadas on social media.
Typically beginning in May and ending in late June. These cicadas will begin to emerge approximately when the soil 8" beneath the ground reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. A nice, warm rain will often trigger an emergence. Back in 2004, people began reporting emergences around May, 13th, but if the weather is warmer, it might start in late April. Update: in 2021, they started in Tennessee on 4/27.
Other tips: these cicadas will emerge after the trees have grown leaves, and, by my own observation, around the same time Iris flowers bloom: Magicicada on an iris flower in Scotch Plains by Judy Lanfredi
Indiana places:Aurora, Bloomington, Brookville, Clinton Falls, Dillsboro, Fishers, French Lick, Henryville, Indianapolis, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Martinsville, McCormick’s Creek State Park, Nashville, New Pelkin, North Vernon, Salem, Skiles Test Park, Spencer.
Kentucky places: Big Bone Lick State Park, Covington, Dayton, Dry Ridge, Eastview, Florence, Ft. Thomas, Georgetown, Grand Rivers, Hebron, Highland Heights, Louisville, Newport, Villa Hills.
Maryland:
Maryland counties: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Washington.
Maryland places: Abingdon, Annapolis, Aspen Hill, Baltimore (learn about the Baltimore Cicada Art project), Bel Air, Beltsville, Berwyn Heights, Bethesda, Bowie, Brooklandville, Brooklyn Park, Catonsville, Chevy Chase, Clarksville, Clinton, Colesville, College Park, Columbia, Cockeysville, Crofton, Cumberland, District Heights, Eldersburg, Elkridge, Elkton, Ellicott City, Fair Hill, Fallston, Forestville, Four Corners, Gaithersburg, Gambrills, Germantown, Glen Burnie, Glenelg, Greenbelt, Gwynn Oak, Hagerstown, Hanover, Havre De Grace, Hillcrest Heights, Hunt Valley, Hyattsville, Hydes, Jessup, Kensington, Landover Hills, Laurel, Linthicum, Loch Raven watershed, Lutherville, Odenton, Oella, Onley, Owings Mills, Pikesville, Potomac, Randallstown, Reisterstown, Riverdale, Rockville, Severna Park, Sharpsburg, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Timonium, Towson, Travilah, Wheaton, Woodbine.
Want a FREE cicada book? In the DC area? Visit Lulu Florist, 4801 St. Elmo Ave., Bethesda, MD, and ask for a free copy of Cicada: Exotic Views by Davy Shian.
Michigan:
Michigan counties: Hillsdale, Washtenaw.
Michigan places:Ann Arbor, Canton, Quincy.
New Jersey:
New Jersey counties: Burlington, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Salem, Somerset, Warren.
New Jersey places:Alexandria, Allerton, Annandale, Asbury, Belle Mead, Bethlehem Township, Berkeley Heights, Bloomsbury, Browns Mills, Carpentersville, Clinton, Clinton Township, Cranbury, Delaware Township, East Amwell Township, Flemington, Franklin Park, Franklin Township (Somerset), Franklin Township (Warren), Frenchtown, Greenwich Township, Grover’s Mill, Hampton, Harmony, Hillsborough Township, Holland Township, Hopewell Township, Kendall Park, Kingston, Kingwood Township, Lambertville, Lawrence, Lebanon, Merrill Creek Reservoir, Milford, Montgomery, Monmouth Junction, Morristown, Mt. Rose, Pennington, Perryville, Phillipsburg, Plainsboro Township, Pittstown, Pohatcong Township, Princeton, Princeton Junction, Princeton Meadows, Prallsville, Raritan Township, Raven Rock, Readington Township, Ringoes, Rosemont, Rocky Hill, Skillman, Sourland Mountain, South Brunswick Township, Stanton, Stewartsville, Stockton, Union Township (Hunterdon), Voorhees Corner, West Windsor Township.
There’s an abundance of large parks and natural areas around Princeton.
New York (Long Island):
New York counties: Suffolk (but extinct, or nearly so, but still look for them – Newsday article).
New York places: All on Long Island, but based on the 2004 emergence, they might be extinct. Some were seen in East Setauket, Connetquot River State Park, Ronkonkoma, Stony Brook. In 1987 they were seen in Shirley, Ronkonkoma, Bohemia, Connetquot River State Park, Oakdale, and Setauket.
Ohio places:Amelia, Anderson Twp, Battelle Darby Park, Batavia, Bellbrook, Camden, Centerville, Cincinnati, Columbus, Defiance, Delaware, Delhi Twp, Dublin, Fairfield, Galloway, Hamilton, Kettering, Lewisburg, Lockland, Miamisburg, Olmsted Falls, Oxford, Paint Creek State Park, Springfield, St. Bernard, West Carrollton, West Chester.
Pennsylvania places:Archbald, Artemas, Bedford, Carroll Valley, Coopersburg, Dinosaur Rock, Downingtown, Erwinna, Gettysburg, Green Lane, Kintnersville, Lake Nockamixon, Lancaster, Lititz, Lumberville, Malvern, Mertztown, Metal Township, Mohnton, Mt Gretna, New Hope, Oaks, Oley, Perkasie, Perkiomenville, Phoenixville, Pipersville, Pittston, Plumstead Township, Point Pleasant, Quakertown, Red Lion, Roaring Spring, Solebury Township, Spring Mount, Stewartstown, Tinicum Township, Topton, Uhlerstown, Upper Black Eddy, Warwick Park, Williams Township.
Tennessee places:Benton, Copperhill, Farragut, Fayetteville, Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Powell, Signal Mountain.
Virginia:
Virginia counties:Arlington, Clarke, County, Dulles Smithsonian National Aircraft and Space Museum, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Shenandoah, Warren, Winchester.
Virginia places: Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Centreville, Chantilly, Clearbrook, Del Ray, Doswell, Dunn Loring, Fairfax, Falls Church, Franconia, Gore, Hampton Roads, Haymarket, Herndon, Lorton, Lovettsville, Manassas, McLean, Merrifield, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, Sterling, Vienna, White Post, Winchester.
West Virginia:
West Virginia counties:Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan.
West Virginia places:Inwood, Martinsburg, New Creek, Paw Paw.
Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. places:Washington D.C.
Want a FREE cicada book? In the DC area? Visit Lulu Florist, 4801 St. Elmo Ave., Bethesda, MD, and ask for a free copy of Cicada: Exotic Views by Davy Shian.
Not sure? Ask someone in your community who lived there 17 years ago.
Example Emergence Timeline
This is an example of a typical cicada emergence. The exact dates will depend on the weather and density of the emergence in your location. Hot weather means an early start and quicker finish to the season — cool weather means a later start, and a protracted season.
Why do they stay underground for 17-years? The prevailing research suggests they’ve evolved a long, 17-year lifecycle to avoid predators that can sync up with their lifecycle & emergence. Why are there so many?! Research suggests that their huge numbers allow them to overwhelm predators, so enough of them will live on to breed and perpetuate the brood.
Should you plant?
If you’re planting trees, wait until July. If your yard doesn’t get cicadas by the first week of June, it’s probably safe to plant in June. It’s the egg-laying that does damage. Talk to an arborist or tree expert if you’re actually concerned. I can’t answer your questions.
Here’s something I wrote in 1996 to chronicle the Brood II cicada emergence in 1996. It’s probably meant to be semi-humorous.
Dan’s Cicada Diary for 1996.
Sunday, May 19th: Metuchen, New Jersey; I found the first desiccated cicada nymph exoskeleton on my patio. My cat disappears.
Tuesday, May 21st: I found about 40 nymph exoskeletons on my patio, a pine tree, and a maple tree. I also spotted an adult climbing the maple and two crippled adults rolling about the base of the tree.
Wednesday, May 22nd: Bonanza! I found about 500 adults perched on just about everything in my yard: trees, patio furniture, the foundation of my home, the garden hose, garbage cans, the missing cat’s water dish, my hair…just plain everywhere! Gruesome!
Saturday, May 25th: Avenel, New Jersey; Party at the Ritzow’s. Literally, hundreds of adult cicadas perched high above in oak trees sneer at decadent humans sipping martini’s, playing croquet. Bourgeois homo sapiens…bah humbug!
Thursday, May 30th: Metuchen, New Jersey; Still no sign of the cat. Sitting outside on my patio around 8:30 pm I hear a “snap”, “crackle” and “popping” sound. Rice Crispies? No. More like cicadas nymphs crawling out of their holes and onto my garden wall to molt into adulthood. Not the loveliest sight.
Saturday, June 1st: Westfield, New Jersey; Dave Wilson and Claire Adas’ wedding. A beautiful ceremony and reception, with the exception of the 9000 uninvited cicadas: crawling up people’s legs, crunching underfoot, landing in refreshments…a moment to cherish and remember!
Tuesday, June 4th: North Edison, New Jersey; The cicadas have begun to sing! All together they sound like a Boeing 767 is circling 40 feet overhead. The sound is that awesome. 10 inch deep piles of dying post-coitus adults litter the base of trees. The invasion has only begun!
Wednesday, June 5th – Monday, June 17th: Metuchen, North Edison, Colonia, Avenel, New Jersey; The invasion is in full effect! Homeowners in North Edison and Colonia report having to haul away the dying bodies of cicadas inwheelbarrows! Residents describe the cicadas’ combined mating screams as “loud as a UFO” [how do they know what a UFO sounds like?] and “like a Mack Truck was floating ten foot above your head”! Someone even told me cicadas taste like shrimp! I guess they made the best of a bad situation.
Wednesday, June 26th: Metuchen, New Jersey; It appears the invasion is over. All that remains is the dismembered, rotting corpses and the memories, sweet, sweet, memories. But remember, They’ll be back…in the year 2013!
Saturday, August 3rd: Metuchen, New Jersey; Looking out my second-story window I can clearly see the damage done by the 17-year cicadas. Brown patches of dead leaves speckle local oak and maple trees, revealing the branches where the female cicada has chosen to lay her eggs; an interesting “natural disaster”, but, not as heart-breaking as an earthquake or a flood. Clearly, the most provocative news regarding cicadas is the current hatch of annual cicadas, which are larger than the “17-year” cicadas (thoroughly illustrated within this web page) and greener. Another dissimilarity is the difference in their respective mating calls: while the “17-year” cicada makes a whirring sound somewhere between the motor of a vacuum cleaner and a car alarm, the “annual” cicada sounds more like a lawn sprinkler or maybe a sewing machine. Although I can clearly hear hundreds of “annual” cicadas and I have found their shells, I haven’t visually located a single one! Another cicada-related event has been the recent hatch of “cicada killer” wasps. These two-inch long giant wasps only prey upon, our friend, the defenseless cicada. I haven’t located these creatures either, but, they are definitely out there. Cicadas beware!
Wednesday, August 26th: Metuchen, New Jersey; the Tibicen cicadas continue to sing…
Wednesday, November 6th: Metuchen, New Jersey; they are all dead or sucking on roots underground.
Many periodical cicadas emerged four years early in the Chicago area in 2020. These cicadas belong to the Brood XIII (13) which is set to emerge in 2024, and last emerged in 2007. Periodical cicadas often emerge in years proceeding or following the year their brood is expected to emerge. This phenomenon is called straggling. Most of the time these “stragglers” emerge in small numbers and are quickly eaten by predators, and do not go on to sing, chorus (synchronized singing for the purpose of attracting females), mate, and lay eggs. Sometimes they emerge in numbers large enough to survive, chorus, and reproduce — this seems to have happened in the Chicago area in 2020. It is thought this is how new broods formed over the millennia — cicadas emerge 4 or 1 year early in significant numbers and form a new brood. When enough stragglers emerge to successfully reproduce it is called an acceleration.
So, is a new brood forming around Chicago? Is this due to climate change or localized “heat islands”? Will the progeny of these stragglers emerge in 13, 17 or 21 years? Lots of questions — but we’ll need to wait quite some time to answer them.
There is a precedence for Brood XIII cicadas straggling in the Chicago area:
In 1969 massive numbers of periodical cicadas emerged in the Chicago suburbs 1 (Williams, K.S. & Simon, C. 1995).
In 1986, another 4-year acceleration was observed in the Chicago area by Monte Lloyd 1.
In 2003, many people left observations on our forums. Observations were made in Glenview, Flossmoor, Riverside, Downers Grove, Homewood, Westmont, Oak Park, and Hinsdale. Here are some examples:
Magicicada emerging this evening
Date: Wednesday, Jun/4/2003
As I went for a walk this evening I noticed quite a few periodic cicadas emerging in the grass, crawling on the sidewalks and on the trunks of trees. This is not our year for the 17-year brood. We should not have them until 2007. Has anyone else in the Chicago area seen these cicadas? — Sue, Flossmoor, IL
Cicada singing
Date: Monday, Jun/9/2003
I heard the cicadas singing for the first time this morning after my walk. Now that I have my doors open I can hear them on and off. — Sue, Flossmoor, IL
In 2020 many people left comments on the Brood XIII page, emailed us (thanks Neil) and left sightings via the Cicada Safari app.
Looking at the latest map from Cicada Safari app data, it appears that cicadas from Brood V are emerging 4 years late. 4 year Stragglers! 21-year-old cicadas! Look around Akron, Ohio, eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia.
