Perhaps you’ve heard the adage, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” That, my friends, has been the struggle this week here at Good Natured Headquarters. I sooo want to be able to spin a good story about the coming emergence of Brood XIII, the group of periodical cicadas we have here in northern Illinois.
I want to be able to use the same hoopla you’ve probably been hearing on television or reading in the newspaper or online. “Billions of cicadas are coming!” was one TV news station’s gleeful proclamation, before going on to report how the noise will be deafening – as loud as chainsaws! – and that the streets and sidewalks will be paved with cicadas as the event progresses. Other sources are using words like invasion and infestation, with some going so far as to proclaim a Cicada-pocalypse or Cicada-geddon.
Oh, how I wish I could be churning out new words like that in gleeful anticipation of the coming hordes. But, I just can’t. Instead, I’m going to share a truth that might be disappointing for some, while providing relief for others: Not everyone is going to be a part of the coming Cicada-palooza.
Out here in the far western suburbs, a combination of factors including agriculture and large-scale development, which necessitated the removal of trees, also caused the removal of a good deal of our periodical cicadas. Remember, these are insects that spend 17 years underneath the ground, feeding on fluids in tree roots. While they’re out .
