Screaming ‘boy bands’ to invade Kentucky for 6 weeks this spring. You can’t avoid them
Screaming “boy bands” will swarm across Kentucky starting in late spring into the summer this year, though their songs are not of the human variety.
For the first time since 2008, periodical cicada Brood XIV will emerge from underground and invade the Bluegrass State. Unlike last year, Kentucky will become a major “focal point” for a multi-state cicada Woodstock this year. That’s according to University of Kentucky entomologist Jonathan Larson, who’s personally branding Brood XIV as the “Bourbon Brood” because of its epicenter in Central Kentucky.
While some might be annoyed by the cicadas’ courtship songs, it’s worth taking some time to appreciate. This phenomenon is distinctly American, Larson explained.
“This is an amazing entomological event,” Larson told the Herald-Leader in an interview March 11.
Here’s what to expect from this natural wonder 17 years in the making.
Where and when will cicada Brood XIV take over in Kentucky?
As explained by Larson, the cicada emergence generally coincides with the blooming of irises in late spring, which in the Bluegrass region, reach their peak in the middle of May. When the soil becomes warm enough, typically about 68 degrees Fahrenheit at 6 inches deep, that’s the cicada’s cue to head for the surface.
Prior to this spring, Brood XIV has spent 17 years feeding on sap in the root networks of trees. In the darkness, cicadas “count” the annual ebb and flow of tree sap that cycles with the seasons. When that cycle runs its course 17 times, and the weather warms up, cicadas begin tunneling to the surface through mud tubes.
“Insects are pretty amazing little biological machines,” Larson said.
That said, they aren’t perfect. Sometimes they come up a year early or arrive one to three years late. One can imagine how much of a bummer that is for a late cicada, then eagerly gobbled up by predators before they get a chance to mate.
This year, parts of neighboring states will see cicada Brood XIV, but Kentucky will be “blanketed” with its members. Their emergence will be concentrated in Central and Eastern Kentucky. Western Kentucky may see some activity as well, though not as much, Larson said.
How long will the cicadas stick around?
Their emergence unfolds over the course of a month and a half. Cicadas surface in waves, though you don’t necessarily want to be the first out of the burrow, Larson explained.
“The ones that first emerge, they’re the ones that very frequently are going to be eaten because they’re just this huge surge of protein coming up out of the ground,” Larson said.
Turkeys, foxes, dogs and snakes all love gorge themselves on cicadas, which are naturally clumsy creatures and easy prey. They’re also delicious. Larson has tasted them, describing their flavor profile as nutty.
Eventually though, predators get sick of cicadas and are overwhelmed by their seemingly endless numbers. It’s their predator satiation survival strategy, something periodical cicadas have spent eons developing through their evolution.
What will they be doing?
Much like any angsty teenager, a male cicada’s first move out in the wider world is to join a band. He does this by calling upon his buggy bros.
As explained by Larson, male cicadas have a mostly hollow abdomen. When they rapidly click a set of special membranes on the sides of their bodies, they’re able to create a loud resonating sound. In large groups, they can be as loud as an airplane.
“So they’re first singing to attract other males. Once the males get all together in the tree, they’ll form a band, just like any good dudes that can sing,” Larson said.
The goal of this concert is to alert and attract females to the tree, Larson said, describing it much like “a dude with a guitar at a college party.”
If a female chooses a male, she’ll simply click her wings and pair off with the male. Female cicadas cannot sing in the way males do.
“They will mate. The male usually perishes, and then the female flies off to start laying those eggs,” Larson said.
Female cicadas lay their eggs in trees through a process called flagging, during which they carve slits into the tree’s bark to deposit their eggs.
While mature trees can shrug off flagging well, Larson noted younger trees are more susceptible to damage by flagging. These can include young fruit trees you’ve recently planted in your backyard.
“We do encourage people to go online and start buying cicada netting, which is kind of like bird netting, but it has a smaller gauge to it,” Larson said. “It prevents the cicadas from being able to lay their eggs. You would wrap this over the canopy of your small tree, and then you’d leave it on there, basically from when you first hear cicadas until about six weeks after that.”
You might not be eager for the arrival of this weeks-long insect music festival, but Larson stresses it’s worth appreciating for the natural marvel it is.
“This is something that only happens here in the United States. We are very privileged to get to see these kinds of huge emergences of these insects. It’s truly a part of nature’s pageantry.”
If you want to help insect scientists study the emergence of Brood XIV in 2025, you can download apps like Cicada Safari or iNaturalist to record and share your observations.
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