Home & Garden

Cicadas to Either Entirely Destroy, Or Ignore, New York City

Winged, screaming death to invade your life, home and mind this summer. Maybe.

This article was written by Matt Hampton. 

Cicadas: their post-larval transformations look like something out of a Ridley Scott movie, and their mating calls sound like the mutant-bastard crickets of your nightmares.

And they are coming for you.

Or possibly not.

The last few days have seen a fervor of cicada-related reporting in the five boroughs, with WNYC introducing its Cicada Tracker and with media outlets breathlessly reporting their emergence on New York City's UPPER WEST SIDE! Oh Ye Gods! However will I hear Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Lincoln Center over the brood's horrible, ear-rending buzz-shrieks?

All the attention is likely coming as a result of this year's batch of the winged nightmare fuel, charmingly known as "Brood II." These are the 17-year-ilk, with red-eyes, larger bodies, and well-paid press agents. 

But the cicada-frenzy could still prove to be much ado about nothing, also. 

Lou Sorkin, of the New York Entomological Society, said he expects to see "a smattering" in Brooklyn and Queens, with most instances in the five boroughs likely sticking to Staten Island. 

"I don't think anybody really expects it to be heavily hit in Manhattan," Sorkin said. "I don't think it would be too heavy in Queens and Brooklyn, just based on previous history."

He added that we're still a couple weeks off from the likely height of cicada season. Their emergence en masse is more likely to come between the middle and end of May, when the air is moist and the temperature has been consistently warm for long enough for the untold billions of them to mature underground.

"It has to be really consistent warmth for many days before the soil would stay warm enough, they like to come out in the evenings, but usually after some bit of precipitation," Sorkin added.

He also said one of the best ways to help future generations get a jump on their bug related fear-mongering (also known as research) is to report any sitings at magicicada.org. 

"You can fill in the information about what you found, life stage and information about it, there's even GPS capabilities," Sorkin said. 


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