Yes, We Have No Cicadas

We heard the hype, we waited to be deafened by the noise, but we are surprised by the silence.  What happened? Well, it looks like Edison, Staten Island, and other points north saw the emergence around mid-June.  But our half of the state?  Nada, for the most part.  Unfortunately if you have not seen (or heard) them yet, you probably will not as they are pretty much done.  A good visual reference is the map over at magicicada.org.  While there may have been Brood II (this particular species) in our area previously, pesticide use or weather events (drought/flooding) could have negatively affected the local populations.

Had your hopes up for the songs of cicadas?  Fear not, we could always get one next year.  Dan Mozgai over at cicadamania.com points out that sometimes broods will appear in areas where they are normally absent, a ‘surprise emergence,’ so to speak.  And there is always the yearly “dog day” cicadas that show up in late summer and early autumn.  The next big emergences for New Jersey are Brood X (in the Princeton area) in 2021 and Brood XIV (at the shore and South Jersey) in 2025.

Thanks to Susan Beebe for her assistance.

- Dennis B.