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‘Glad they only come once every 17 years’ -- Ann Arbor residents deal with noisy cicadas

Cicadas are emerging

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The cicadas are here (in Metro Detroit). Well, they’ve been here for 17 years. But now they’re emerging.

The sheer number of cicadas has caused car crashes in Ohio, grounded the White House press plane in Washington D.C. and now cicadas are making themselves known in Metro Detroit.

Read: 17-year cicadas to emerge in Michigan this spring: Everything you want to know

An adult cicada is seen, in Washington, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge from 15 states in the U.S. East. The cicadas of Brood X, trillions of red-eyed bugs singing loud sci-fi sounding songs, can seem downright creepy. Especially since they come out from underground only ever 17 years. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Also known as the Great Eastern Brood, the Brood X periodical cicada is a 17-year cicada that last emerged in 2004.

Periodical cicadas spend most of their lives as larva, burrowed in the ground. It takes them 17 years to mature from nymph to adult.

They feed on nutrients and fluids from the soil and small roots. When it’s time, they tunnel to the surface and wait for the soil to warm to about 64 degrees.

They’re starting to emerge in Ann Arbor. One woman said it’s so bad that she’s slipping on them. There are thousands of cicadas.



Active periodical cicada broods in U.S. (US Forest Service, USDA)

About the Authors
Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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