Cicadas Brood II – 2013

They were so cute! A bit noisy, and I think I hit about 200 with my car, but very entertaining to watch climb around.

They’re here!
But, not in DC proper and not in the close-​in suburbs either (not yet anyway). For now, they can be found in and around Manassas about 30 miles from the city. There’s a plentiful smattering of cicadas in the woods along the Fairfax County/​Prince William County line (although not in dense clusters as is characteristic of them). Few are clinging to trees, and none are overwhelming the nearby ground. Instead, they are appearing in small patches… with individual cicadas and groups of two or three scattered sporadically about the waist-​high foliage on the hilly shoreline above the rain swollen waters of Bull Run.
Along a meandering course, following a well-​worn dirt path that locals have trampled out, it was easy pickings as the cicadas rested on leaves that provided a perfect platform for them to be plucked up by their wings. Offering no resistance and seemingly oblivious to impending danger, they, sometimes, would even grab onto my hand with their legs as if moving onto another leaf.
In fact, others in my troupe of cicada enthusiasts who suffered some initial hesitation and fear quickly got the hang of catching these docile critters (realizing that the cicadas’ dark appearance and haunting red eyes aren’t really a portent of attack). They don’t bite, are nearly blind, and are, at best, clumsy and reluctant flyers.
In the space of a half hour, the five of us (with our bare hands reaching and snatching at regular intervals) had captured roughly fifty cicadas in total (which we placed in three hand-​held insect boxes that we had brought with us). As each transparent box filled with captured specimens (crawling and buzzing inside), we had gotten enough of them to satisfy our curiosity and made our way out of the woods onto the cicada-​free lawn of an adjoining playground, next to Bull Run, to debrief and marvel at our find.
Maybe, in a week or two, this East Coast brood of periodical cicadas will begin to emerge in the immediate suburbs and in the city itself (likely in Rock Creek Park but, perhaps, in more unlikely spots like the grounds of the U.S. Capitol or the North or South Lawn of The White House). What a great photo opportunity that would provide to both locals and tourists alike.
In the meantime, the cicadas are biding their time and waiting for an opportune moment to burst out of the ground in greater numbers. I suppose, they will blanket DC soon enough. When they do, don’t miss out on seeing this brood. Seventeen years, even from the accelerated perspective of one who is aging, is a long time to wait for its next appearance.