The noisemakers have already made their appearance
in Calhoun County(Photo by Forester Russ Richardson)
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After a 17-year nap, cicadas will be overtaking our region again soon.
This particular brood in West Virginia in scattered areas, are now slowly appearing in Calhoun.
They're usually out for four to six weeks until the end of June.
The cicada is a type of insect that lives in the ground for 16 and a 1/2 years and it comes out in the spring in a given location once every 17 years.
It feeds on the roots of trees, and that's probably a pretty poor quality of food source, so it takes it a long time to reach maturity.
The males are the ones that make the noise. The females are quiet. The males are actually calling the females to them for mating purposes.
They may be a noisy nuisance, but for the most part, they create no harm.
You also may have heard a few cicadas over the years. They have always been here, but a large emergence of them hasn't occurred across the Ohio Valley since 1999.
If their commotion bothers you too much, you may have to break out the earphones.
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