Vortex, I did try to send you info once, but I guess I need to try again, so insent shortly.
Cicada update from my sister:
Subject line: They're here!
The cicadas, that is. After 17 years of sleeping, "Brood X" has arrived in the Washington DC area.
Last Tuesday night before dinner, [BIL and nieces] went out into our front yard looking for signs of cicadas. They found 4 or 5 of the exoskeletons (the beige shells that the cicadas shed when they first come above ground) and not much more. The next morning, Wednesday, there were literally hundreds of exoskeletons all over our front yard and some maturing cicadas to boot.
For those of you who haven't heard, we are in the beginning of an influx of periodic cicadas; bugs that come above ground once every 17 years, shed their skins, buzz around, mate, bury their eggs and die. They are meant to be around for five to eight weeks total.
The biggest shocker about these red-eyed bugs is their numbers: they say that at the peak there will be about 1.5 million cicadas per square acre. One newspaper article estimated that it will require each Washingtonian to kill about 8,000 cicadas per hour just to keep them at bay.
As of yet, the cicadas aren't old enough to really start making the noise for which they are infamous, but apparently in the next week or so we are meant to begin hearing the "wall of noise" that is a result of the constant buzzing of the males in their attempts to woo the females.
As for [the nieces], they are into the bugs - so far. Oldest Niece picks them up and holds them and lets them crawl up her arms. This morning, however, as we were on our morning "cicada safari" (not to be confused with our afternoon "cicada safari" or our post-dinner "cicada safari") the big ones were flying around a bit more and they both became a little more intimidated. I suspect, however, they will get used to it.