Where the Cicadas Are Now Emerging

If you go outside on a quiet day, you might just hear the grass making a slight rustle as if it was sentient. That's the sign of a vast birth taking place underground, as millions of cicadas crawl their way to the surface for a weeks-long Rumspringa of molting, noisemaking and gettin' it on.

This year's Cicadomorpha (on the East Coast, at least) is the notorious Brood II, black-bodied, crimson-eyed specimens that emerge in huge numbers every 17 years. A relative of the delightful spittlebug, the insects are harmless but extremely loud and a pain to walk or bike through, seeing as how they can number in the hundreds of thousands in just one square acre. While not of the 17-year variety, this 2011 footage of a cicada swarm in Nashville might give you an idea of what the East Coast will look like soon: