Monday, May 24, 2021

Cicada Mapping

Every 17 years cicada nymphs in the eastern United States emerge en masse from underground. For a few weeks the adult cicadas fly around, make a lot of noise, have sex and lay eggs. Then they die - not to be seen again for another 17 years. 

Brood X cicadas have this month been spotted in Washington, D.C., and in surrounding areas such as Virginia and Maryland. They have also emerged in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. You can keep up with the latest sightings of Brood X cicadas for yourself on Mount St. Joseph University's Cicada Map.

The Cicada Map shows all the locations where cicadas have been reported using the University's citizen science app - Cicada Safari. Cicada Safari is a cell phone app which has been released to help track the emergence and locations of this year's brood of cicadas. The app allows anyone to photograph and report the location of cicadas that they spot in the wild. After the photos have been verified they are then posted to the Cicada Map.

Brood X is the largest of the 17-year cicada broods. They should emerge and be seen and heard in at least 15 states across the eastern United States.

1 comment:

Ubermonkey said...

> Every 17 years cicada nymphs in the eastern United States emerge en masse from underground.

*For a particular location* in the Eastern US, this is true. But every year sees a brood emerge in *some* locations. We're all talking about them this year because this year's brood is the biggest.

I took a little trip to see them in Ohio but unfortunately the timing wasn't right; cold weather delayed them by a few weeks.