After my disappointment last week I am so glad to say: The 17-year cicadas have arrived. They’re here! We have bugs.
The good people of the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang explained that the cool weather has hurt the cicadas. A lot came out when it was too cold for them to molt properly. And, because they’ve been coming in more of a trickle than a flood, predators were more or less able to keep up.
I woke up one morning worrying that maybe climate change has done them in. That the global phenomenon has come to disrupt my favorite biological event.
But they’re picking up. Monday evening, I came across a slow-moving mob of determined nymphs, struggling through the grass to the oak tree, the tallest thing around. Thursday morning I finally saw a bunch of adults, around another tree. I hope to see and hear many, many more soon.
Photo: Helen Fields