AP PHOTOS: Cicadas swarm parts of US as the screaming insects emerge in Brood XIV's 17-year cycle
CINCINNATI (AP) — Another cicada invasion is here. The large Brood XIV, which emerges every 17 years, is making for a spectacular natural event as billions of periodical cicadas emerge across parts of the Eastern U.S., including in Georgia, southern Ohio, Kentucky, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and Long Island, New York.
When spring warms the soil to 64 degrees Fahrenheit (about 18 degrees Celsius), these cicada nymphs dig their way up to the surface after their long development period.
On the right night, usually after a warm spring rain, near trees showing cicada pilot holes and chimneys, they will emerge — so many that they can be heard crunching through the grass to climb up trees, plants, people or any vertical surface. There is a forceful quality about it.
Once they find footing, they begin the molting process. They shed their nymphal skin, emerging soft, vulnerable and pale yellow. They have two large red eyes on the sides of the head, three small, jewellike eyes called ocelli in the center, and gossamer wings. In a few hours, their bodies harden and darken, and they fly up to the treetops.
Then the screaming begins — the loud buzzing, screaming sound males make when they are looking for a mate. It leaves ears ringing.
Throughout this process, cicadas serve as a source of protein for both wildlife and humans. They survive by sheer numbers.
After mating, females lay eggs in tree branches and die shortly after. The hatched tiny nymphs fall and burrow into the ground, and the cycle begins again.
Cicadas are part of the magic of spring when the yellow and purple irises are blooming, and the green is new and vivid. The cicada show takes place in every light of the day and the dark of night. The pull is the power and beauty of nature and time.
___
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
French Open 2025: Coco Gauff emerges from a tough second set to return to Week 2 in Paris
PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff got off to a terrific start in the French Open's third round Saturday, taking 12 of the first 15 points for a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes. The rest of the opening set went smoothly, too. Things got much tougher from there, and the 2023 U.S. Open champion was merely two points from dropping the second set, before getting back in the right direction and defeating Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 7-6 (3) to reach Week 2 at Roland-Garros for the fifth consecutive year. Gauff, a 21-year-old from Florida, was the runner-up in Paris in 2022 and is seeded No. 2 at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament this year. Next up for her will be a matchup on Monday against No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, with the winner moving into the quarterfinals. After needing just a half-hour to claim the first set Saturday, Gauff wound up in a 75-minute struggle in the second. That set included eight breaks of serve in a row as the sounds of popping fireworks drifted over to Court Philippe-Chatrier from the nearby soccer stadium belonging to Paris Saint-Germain, whose fans were gathering to attend a watch party ahead of the Champions League final against Italy's Inter Milan in Munich, Germany, later Saturday night. The key in the second was when Gauff trailed 5-3, 30-love with Bouzkova serving. A total of four times, Bouzkova needed to string together two consecutive points to force a third set. But Gauff wouldn't allow it, frequently stretching points with her terrific court coverage until she could find space to hit a winner. On one particularly memorable exchange, Gauff sprinted to barely reach a drop shot, scrambled into position to block back a volley, then leaped for an overhead smash. By the end, Gauff had more than twice as many winners as Bouzkova in the second set, 22 to 11, and also helped herself by winning the point on 11 of her 14 trips to the net. Gauff is one of five American women in the fourth round. The others are No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 7 Madison Keys, No. 16 Amanda Anisimova and unseeded Hailey Baptiste. There were three U.S. men still in the bracket heading into Sunday. Keys, who won the Australian Open in January, saved three match points while down 5-4 in the final set and came back to beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Keys now plays the 70th-ranked Baptiste. Anisimova meets No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the quarterfinals, and Pegula — last year's U.S. Open runner-up — faces French wild-card entry Lois Boisson. ___ More AP tennis:
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New Orleans holds burial of repatriated African Americans whose skulls were used in racist research
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans celebrated the return and burial of the remains of 19 African American people whose skulls had been sent to Germany for racist research practices in the 19th century. On Saturday, a multifaith memorial service including a jazz funeral, one of the city's most distinct traditions, paid tribute to the humanity of those coming home to their final resting place at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. 'We ironically know these 19 because of the horrific thing that happened to them after their death, the desecration of their bodies,' said Monique Guillory, president of Dillard University, a historically Black private liberal arts college, which spearheaded the receipt of the remains on behalf of the city. 'This is actually an opportunity for us to recognize and commemorate the humanity of all of these individuals who would have been denied, you know, such a respectful send-off and final burial.' The 19 people are all believed to have passed away from natural causes between 1871 and 1872 at Charity Hospital, which served people of all races and classes in New Orleans during the height of white supremacist oppression in the 1800s. The hospital shuttered following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The remains sat in 19 wooden boxes in the university's chapel during a service Saturday that also included music from the Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective. A New Orleans physician provided the skulls of the 19 people to a German researcher engaged phrenological studies — the debunked belief that a person's skull could determine innate racial characteristics. 'All kinds of experiments were done on Black bodies living and dead,' said Dr. Eva Baham, a historian who led Dillard University's efforts to repatriate the individuals' remains. 'People who had no agency over themselves.' In 2023, the University of Leipzig in Germany reached out to the City of New Orleans to find a way to return the remains, Guillory said. The University of Leipzig did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'It is a demonstration of our own morality here in New Orleans and in Leipzig with the professors there who wanted to do something to restore the dignity of these people,' Baham said. Dillard University researchers say more digging remains to be done, including to try and track down possible descendants. They believe it is likely that some of the people had been recently freed from slavery. 'These were really poor, indigent people in the end of the 19th century, but ... they had names, they had addresses, they walked the streets of the city that we love," Guillory said. 'We all deserve a recognition of our humanity and the value of our lives.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Millions of honeybees abuzz after truck overturns in Washington state
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — There was a buzz in the air Friday in northwestern Washington state as about 250 million honeybees escaped a commercial truck that overturned. The truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms) of honeybee hives rolled over around 4 a.m. close to the Canadian border near Lynden, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office said in social media posts. It appears the driver did not navigate a tight turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll into a ditch, county emergency management spokesperson Amy Cloud said in an email. The driver was uninjured, Cloud said. Deputies, county public works employees and several bee experts responded to the scene. The box hives later came off the truck, and local beekeepers swarmed to help recover, restore and reset the hives, according to the sheriff's office. The plan is to allow the bees to return to their hives and find their queen bee in the next day or two, according to the sheriff's office. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible. 'Thank you to the wonderful community of beekeepers: over two dozen showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees would be as successful as possible,' the sheriff's office post said. The public was advised to avoid the area on Friday, and sheriff's deputies dove into in their squad cars at times to avoid being stung. Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating over 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus and melons. Bees and other pollinators have been declining for years, and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply. In 2018, the U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first 'World Bee Day' on May 20 to bring attention to the bees' plight. Beekeepers often transport millions of bees from one location to another because leaving them in one location for too long can deplete resources for other pollinators, The Seattle Times reported. Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, told the newspaper the state should have a standardized 'emergency bee response' for bee vehicle crashes. In 2015, 14 million bees escaped a truck north of Seattle on Interstate 5 and started stinging people, the newspaper reported at the time. Lisa Baumann, The Associated Press
