Area Buzzes About Cicadas' Strong Showing

This summer, which many people believe lasts at least through the weekend, has had its hot days, its cool days, its average days -- and its cicadas.

The insects at issue are not the ones that emerge from the ground every 17 years to baffle, buzz and bemuse. This year's noisemakers are the common ones known as annual cicadas, and it seems that they are unusually plentiful.

"I asked people, 'What is this?' " said Karen Kefauver, a California-based freelance writer who was raised in Bethesda and visits regularly. Speaking of the cicada buzz, she said, "This summer it stood out more than any summer I can remember. . . . It was stunning."

University of Maryland insect specialist Mike Raupp told a Baltimore Sun weather blog: "I can't remember a year that the annual . . . cicadas have been as abundant and active."

On another blog, one poster said he was confused, believing that the cicada sound was heard only at 17-year intervals. "I know I'm not hallucinating," he wrote, "but I been hearing the buzzing noise everyday this week."

The sound of cicadas was noted in news reports of a visit to the White House grounds and of a funeral last month at Arlington National Cemetery. Readers of the Irish Times were told last month that in Washington, the trees seemed to roar with "the chatter of cicadas."

Yes, said Gene Kritsky, an entomologist and professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, "we are seeing a larger number of annual cicadas."

There may have been even more last year, said Kritsky, a longtime cicada watcher, but he knew of no precise census of annual cicadas. Nevertheless, he said, scientists are "seeing good numbers" this year throughout the Eastern United States.

The reason is not yet clear. "We're not certain" what is causing the large numbers, Kritsky said. "It may or may not be" attributable to increased temperatures, he said.

On the Sun's blog, Raupp offered his thoughts on why the cicadas have flourished.

He said the cool and wet spring might have enhanced the survival prospects of many insects and the quality of the plants on which they feed.

In addition, he said, it is critical for cicadas to emerge from the ground, and moist, loose soil makes their task easier.

May 2009 was one of the wettest on record at Reagan National Airport. Temperatures that month were near normal.

The 17-year cicadas remembered from 2004 are due back in 2021, all things being equal.