Cicadas are starting to emerge in Wisconsin, DNR says

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed Tuesday, May 21, cicadas have started to emerge in Wisconsin. 

According to a news release from the DNR, a resident in Lake Geneva sent photos of newly-emerged cicadas taken Friday, May 17. The DNR confirmed that these insects are indeed Brood XIII cicadas.

“Dozens are hatching in my yard,” the photographer wrote in their email to the DNR.

A CBS 58 viewer captured a fox in their Lake Geneva backyard munching on cicadas for dinner. 

The DNR says, periodical cicadas are found in the eastern half of the United States and nowhere else. There are seven species, four of which have 13-year life cycles and three that have 17-year cycles. Of those, there are 15 “broods” or year classes.

The 17-year Brood XIII is the only one known to emerge in Wisconsin, though only in the southernmost counties. However, other parts of the Midwest, like Illinois and even further south, will see the emergence of both Brood XIII and the 13-year Brood XIX.

This will be the first time these two broods have emerged in the same year since 1803 – 221 years ago.

According to the DNR, cicadas' deafening mating calls can be annoying. After they mate, their carcasses can become a nuisance as they litter the ground. 

Cicadas do not bite or sting, the DNR says, in fact, many people cook and eat them -- some even calling them "tree shrimp." 

The DNR says, when cicadas emerge it will be en masse. Densities of tens to hundreds of thousands of cicadas per acre can be common.

The insects remain active for four to six weeks after emerging, feeding by sucking plant fluids from a wide variety of deciduous plants and shrubs. This feeding generally does not injure mature plants that are otherwise healthy.

The insects are expected to keep emerging in southern Wisconsin into June and will not appear again in the state until 2041. Individuals who spot cicadas on their property or public lands are encouraged to report the sighting on the Cicada Safari app to help track the co-emergence of Broods XIII and XIX.

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