Cicadas In Perry Hall: Share Your Pictures

PERRY HALL, MD — Cicadas have been spotted around Perry Hall crawling along sidewalks and up the sides of houses.

For about a month, cicadas will be above ground before mating and dying.

This batch of cicadas is known as Brood X, or the 17-year cicadas. The bugs have been feeding on tree roots since 2004 and are climbing out of the ground now that soil temperatures in Maryland have risen above 64 degrees.

Once the bugs push above the surface, they shed their nymphal exoskeletons.

"They crawl onto tree trunks, posts, and other upright structures and after a short period molt or shed their skin to become winged adults," the University of Maryland Extension said of cicadas after they have emerged. "The empty skins are left clinging to objects."

Dawn Schwartz Kelly captured pictures of cicadas in the process of shedding, also known as molting.

Above the surface, the cicadas will be on a mission to reproduce.

"My mom has tons of them at her house," Chris Carter Vanbeber of Parkville posted on the Perry Hall Patch Facebook page.

Male cicadas issue a mating call whose volume compares to a lawn mower, leaf blower or chainsaw, officials say.

The sound of cicadas will be loudest in the afternoons from late May to late June.

In response to the male's call, females will click.

After mating, the female will burrow into tree limbs to lay her eggs. Trees may be damaged unless they are protected with cheese cloth.

Once the eggs hatch, the tiny white nymphs will fall from trees and burrow underground, where they live until 2038.

Have you seen any cicadas? Show us your pics in the comments or on the Perry Hall Patch Facebook page! Please only submit photos you took and have permission to share.

By posting pictures below or on the Perry Hall Patch Facebook page, you are giving us the right to reproduce them on Patch.com.

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