Cicadas are about an inch and a half long, black with red eyes, orange-tinted wings and orange legs.
GREG SAVA | Courtesy photo
Cicada Brood XIV, one of the largest broods of cicadas, is set to emerge in about a month. Brood XIV most recently emerged in 2008, bringing with it the loud noise that marks its presence.
Different broods emerge in different years all over Appalachia and parts of the Midwest. This year’s brood will emerge in parts of:
Georgia
Indiana
Kentucky
Massachusetts
North Carolina
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Where to see (and hear) them in W.Va.
In West Virginia specifically, cicadas will be seen (and heard) in the southwestern part of the state and in parts of Hampshire, Morgan and Berkeley counties. A map created by the USDA Forest Service showing which broods of cicadas emerge each year can be found at bit.ly/CicadaMap2025.
Berry Crutchfield, a plant pest biologist at the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, said expect to see cicadas by the third week of May in Cabell County. The bugs dig up through the ground, so the soil needs to be soft enough for that.
Seventeen-year cicadas come out of the ground every, well, 17 years. They’ll be around for five to six weeks or until the end of June.
Crutchfield said they are about an inch and a half long, black with red eyes, orange-tinted wings and orange legs. These are different from the dog day cicada, which emerges every year in mid- to late summer. It’s green and much larger. They make five different sounds, and their “singing†is also different from the dog day cicada.
“They’re completely harmless to humans, pets, and livestock. They can’t sting or bite, and they don’t carry disease,†Crutchfield said.
They can be damaging to woody ornamental trees and shrubs.
“They really like pencil-size branches. That’s what they lay their eggs in, and it causes the branch tips to die,†he said.
Crutchfield recommends waiting until the end of June to landscape with plants like hydrangeas and azaleas, or purchasing cicada nets. Insecticides are not effective in controlling cicadas because the bugs move around so much.
Tasty, high-protein cicada snacks?
“They are a tremendous food source for birds and fish and all kinds of mammals. A lot of things eat cicadas,†he said, people included.
They are a great source of protein with 21.4 grams per 100 grams of cicadas. That’s more protein per gram than beef, chicken or eggs.
“Most of the things you see with eating cicadas are focused on the newly emerged nymphs. Right when they come out of the ground, they’re very soft, and they climb up on vertical surfaces and they shed their skin, and then they change into an adult. So, most of the recipes you see for cicadas are for eating the newly emerged nymphs right when they come out of the ground,†Crutchfield said.
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