17-year cicadas return to the Cape

SANDWICH, MASS. (WHDH) – It’s a sight Massachusetts only sees every 17 years, a brood of cicadas, emerging from the ground and making noise out on the Cape.

“There are 17 year and 14 year cicadas in North America, but in Massachusetts, we only have the 17 year cicadas,” said Mary Beers, science teacher and naturalist. “They’re finding them in Falmouth, Mashpee, so it’s pretty much upper Cape, into Plymouth, into the other side of the canal. But, nowhere else in Massachusetts, which is interesting to me, and not in the lower Cape.”

The insects are a surprising sight at more than an inch long. They spend most of their life cycle underground before emerging…

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