The Return of the Brood X Cicadas and Their 90 Decibel Chirping

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It’s going to be a noisy Spring, writes Allie Miller for phillyvoice.com.

Brood X, or Brood 10, cicadas will crawl out of their 17-year forest floor hibernation around the end of May into June, and start chirping.

They’ll hang out above ground for five or six weeks, mate, lay new eggs and die.

The mating call chirp, at 90 decibels, is as loud as a lawn mower.

“The end of May through June, it can get pretty loud,” Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell told USA Today.

2021 is expected to be the most widespread appearances yet of the cicadas, with billions to trillions showing up in each region. They are expected in 15 states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and New York.

The city of Philadelphia could be spared since the insects don’t care for concrete urban landscapes. They aim for trees and green spaces to lay their eggs.

Despite their noise and numbers, cicadas aren’t as invasive as the elusive Lanternfly.  They don’t harm plants, with the exception of young fruit trees.

The cicadas have black bodies, red eyes and grow to two inches long.

Read more about the return of the Circadas at phillyvoice.com.

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