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It’s an event 17 years in the making.
The emergence of periodical cicada Brood XIV, nicknamed “the Bourbon Brood,” has begun in Kentucky.
“This is a group of cicadas that only comes out every 17 years in our region,” said University of Kentucky Department of Entomology Extension Specialist Blake Newton. “They’re called periodical cicadas, and they’re coming out now, at least in Lexington, Richmond, and points south down to around Tennessee, and if they aren’t out in the Hardin County area, they’ll be coming soon.”
Unlike normal bugs that emerge annually, periodical cicadas emerge in 17-year cycles, which Newton says is possibly an evolutionary tactic to avoid predators adapting to hunting them. With such a long time underground and such a short time above it, the cicadas have to make that time count.
“They come out of the ground as nymphs, which don’t have wings,” Newton said. “They shed their skins right away. The adults come out, start flying around, mate, and lay eggs, and then the adults die within just a couple weeks, and then the eggs hatch out into little nymphs. The nymphs go underground and stay another 17 years.”
Cicadas do not sting or bite and are not harmful to humans, pets, or crops, with the exception of young trees and bushes for which protective netting is recommended. You will likely see the cicadas soon, and you will almost certainly hear them.
“They do a mating call much like birds do, and they all tend to group together to make this noise, and it can be extremely loud,” Newton said. “We’re talking the kind of noises you might hear from being maybe a couple hundred feet away from a jet engine or something like that. Very, very loud.”
“The Bourbon Brood” is the last expected emergence of periodical cicadas in Kentucky until 2029. Learn more about cicadas on the U.K. Entomology website.
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