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* OK, right up front I need to disclose that I was given the option of receiving a free cicada bobblehead as part of the marketing for this post, which I accepted. But I really would’ve posted it anyway because it’s a pretty cool thing and I’ve purchased other products from this company in the past…

This morning, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled the first Cicada Bobblehead. Due to an unusual overlap of the lifecycles of two types (or broods) of cicadas, trillions of the insects are expected to emerge in the United States by the end of June, especially in the Midwest. The 13- and 17-year cicadas only emerge in the midwestern and eastern U.S. in the same year every 221 years, with 2024 being the first such year since 1803. The first-ever Cicada Bobblehead is being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

Positioned on a base bearing its name across the front with a grass-like texture on top, the cicada bobblehead features its prominent red eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous wings. The bobbleheads, which will be individually numbered, are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. Expected to ship in November, the bobbleheads cost $30 each, plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order. […]

“We’re excited to create this bobblehead celebrating the triumphant return of the cicada,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “The sounds of summer have taken on a new meaning in 2024 with the arrival of the popular insects. This bobblehead is a must-have for cicada lovers everywhere!”

Click here if you want to buy one…

Other than the free sample, I won’t make anything else off of this. But maybe we can convince the “Hall of Fame and Museum” to produce an Illinois politics bobblehead line.

* Meanwhile, from the Sun-Times…

The periodical cicadas, which emerge from underground in the spring every 17 years, are expected to die off by the end of June, according to Morton Arboretum scientists. When they die off, millions of the dead insects will cover the ground in suburban Chicago and much of northern Illinois.

* The Question: What has the cicada situation been like by you?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:30 am

Comments

Champaign? 0 WCIA went out looking and had to go to Piatt County to find any.

Over hyped and under whelming.

Comment by old man poodle owner Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:34 am
Here in the heart of Illinois, I have seen nor heard a single one.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:36 am
At home, nothing. At a park in the same city, cicadas were loud and flying into my family.

Comment by Simply Sayin' Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:45 am
Crazy swarms in DuPage County. They seem to have gotten a little bolder if they survive more than a few days and dive bomb you when walking down the street.

Comment by Sluggger O'Toole Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:49 am
I live close to the lake in Springfield and it was biblical at my house. Couldn’t even get in my front door there were so many cicadas. Couldn’t mow the back yard because there were too many flying around and in the grass. That was about a month ago. Very few remaining.

Comment by Demoralized Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:52 am
Lots at my house near Lake Springfield. My kids and dog loved them. Me, not so much. I spent one Saturday screaming right along with them when they kept landing on me while I was doing yard work.

Comment by wildcat12 Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:52 am
Northwest IL—I haven’t seen any.

Comment by Just a Citizen Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:55 am
Nothing out my way in Geneva. I had to go back into DuPage by Wheaton and Cantigny to see lots. Think mainly in older towns with trees
As to Illinois politicians bobble heads they could do a criminal line with them in stripes

Comment by DuPage Saint Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:56 am
=== What has the cicada situation been like by you? ===

Theoretical, and humorous.

Comment by H-W Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:57 am
Unbelievable in Dupage County. For the past month I’d have 20 plus land on me while I mowed the lawn, and all my trees have piles of their shells surrounding the base like mulch.

They finally seem to be thinning out which is fine by me.

I also had to attend a golf outing in Decatur recently and they had swarms of them. It’s not helpful when one lands on your face as you try to tee off.

Comment by Excitable Boy Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 8:57 am
At my house out in the country I haven’t heard any. At my buddy’s house 20 miles away (in a much more wooded area) you couldn’t hear yourself think.

Comment by Gruntled University Employee Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:04 am
A couple of weeks ago they were in full force. On one 20 minute walk I lost count of how many cicadas landed on me. Now they are still here but not nearly as many. Luckily they are harmless.

Comment by Northwest suburbs Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:05 am
Inside Springfield I did not hear or see any but we do get periodic broods of legislators.

Comment by Bigtwich Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:07 am
I live in a legacy neighborhood with a lot of older trees in McHenry County, but I haven’t seen one in my yard. They are somewhere around as I have been able to hear them the last couple of weeks, though not as loud the last few days.

Comment by Jaguar Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:08 am
Same as Demoralized. Literally 1000s in our yard. I have a pic of them literally laying side by side each other and covering a couple square feet of ground where a dirt patch was in my yard.

Comment by AD Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:12 am
They were everywhere on the ground in DuPage County–I could even hear them while I was on the freeway with the music turned up. But I’ve barely seen any in Chicago proper.

Comment by Benjamin Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:14 am
Thick. Noticeably quieter the last few days. Not hearing them much right now. Guess it’s done by the end of next week.

Comment by Save Ferris Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:19 am
Plague levels around Taylorville. My mother in law wondered aloud why she had no cicadas at her farm a half hour south. I posited that the last time a cicada wandered on to the property she likely preached the gospel to it for two hours, baptized it, and then put it to work around the property. The poor creature managed to escape and put the word out.

Comment by MiddleAgeDog Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:19 am
Overwhelming in Beverly on the southwest side thanks to the canopy of older trees. At peak a week ago, could not talk on the phone in the back yard mid-afternoon due to the high pitched noise. But head just a half mile west into the burbs or east further into the city and the sound goes away.

Comment by RHH Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:23 am
NW Chicago suburb-Palatine area-I have only seen one or two. No noise.
In-laws in Arlington Heights, swarms. You do not need a sound machine to nap.

Comment by DEE Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:26 am
== Click here if you want to buy one… ==

Steve Rogers: No, I don’t think that I will.

As for cicadas by me, I’ve only heard them in one small patch of woods in Lexington in McLean County.

Comment by TJ Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:26 am
Lincoln Park by me-silence.

River Grove/Oak Park by family- biblical plague.

Comment by Chicago Blue Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:26 am
The bobblehead is nice, but I really wish they made a dog toy. Maybe then my dog would stop trying to eat every cicada he sees.

Comment by vern Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:27 am
Didn’t really notice any in the older west side of Springfield.

Went to a family get-together near Godfrey, IL a month ago and they were so loud it was hard to have a conversation outside. I’m told it’s died down considerably in the last few weeks.

Comment by 'Lectric guitar Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:31 am
Not a lot by me in my part of Chicago (not many trees on my block). But in the nearby suburbs, especially Oak Park, a cacophany

Comment by Leslie K Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:38 am
In my neighborhood (Uptown) none by me. At work, near Maywood, there were some.

But after listening to the Stuff You Should Know “Cicada” episode, my opinion of them changed. Amazing creatures (like Honeybees).

Comment by Jerry Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:40 am
I live near Springfield and the cicada situation was terrible. The first couple weeks of June you couldn’t walk outside without getting hit by one. Now they’ve pretty much gone away.

Also, I don’t think I’d get a bobblehead of one, but the Hall of Fame’s shop does have a Tom Skilling one that’s pretty great.

Comment by Elijah Snow Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:45 am
West DePaul neighborhood - none, nada, zilch.
And every so often we do get a few. But this year - not one.

Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 9:57 am
We got plenty, but this geezer seems to recall them being more plentiful decades ago.

Comment by lake county democrat Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:07 am
For a few weeks there were swarms of them here in the NW suburbs. Now just fat, lazy birds.

Comment by scurvydog Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:11 am
Northwest end of Chatham. Zero cicada action.

Comment by Captain Obvious Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:22 am
Mclean County zero seem to be around here and all the fuss for nothing.

Comment by clec dcn Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:38 am
Uptown in Chicago, have not seen any. However, I did see one in the pedway down town.

Comment by Bud Grant Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:40 am
Here in the north end of beautiful DuPage County, I didn’t see all that many cicadas, but they were really, really loud for a couple of weeks. You can still hear a few but the noise level has dropped to mildly annoying.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 10:50 am
I’m in the northwest part of the state along the Rock River. Not a peep in my neighborhood, but folks I know living 5 miles away say it’s been deafening at times.

Comment by Siualum Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 11:01 am
Central McDonough County, heard and saw none at all.

Comment by Flapdoodle Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 11:07 am
At my house on the north side of Chicago, I haven’t seen any. I heard one or two last week, but that’s about it.

I was out in Des Plaines last weekend, though, and they were all over the place. Lots of dead ones scattered on the ground, too.

Comment by ??? Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 11:10 am
I’ve been to the Bobblehead Hall of Fame (more a collection than a museum) in Milwaukee, and it’s fun. I just ordered the cicada (also because it’s fun).

Comment by Leslie K Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 11:19 am
I live near the lake in Springfield. My block usually experiences cicadas in late July and early August. We had literally one cicada calling out here the past month. Poor guy must have gotten the date wrong in their day planner. A quarter mile away it was a lollapalooza of cicadas last month. I am enjoying the peace, frankly

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 11:48 am
Arlington Hts, were siren-intrusive just two days ago, but about half are gone today. Maybe zero tomorrow.

Comment by walker Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 12:04 pm
None on the far West side of Springfield.

Comment by Mall Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 12:14 pm
Just located two cicadas on the balcony nine floors up in Chicago. Hope they are the first and last.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 12:20 pm
In north central Lake County - not a single cicada. Lots of earwigs though.

Comment by stateandlake Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 12:48 pm
Saw one single cicada in my Northside Chicago yard. Went to a nature area in Lisle and couldn’t hear a thing they were so loud. Also, couldn’t walk anywhere without stepping on them.

Comment by Unionman Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 2:04 pm
I live north of Peoria and Mrs G’Kar and I were expecting the worse, but we have not had a single cicada this summer. However, when I went to North Peoria to visit my sister’s over Memorial Day, the noise was deafening and the air was filled with them.

Comment by G'Kar Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 3:16 pm
Cicada levels near me have been so high, the sound level is reaching about 90 dB in our town.

I am taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime free lawn aeration to add about 6K lbs of compost to my lawn.

There’s about 8 cicada burrows per square foot.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 3:56 pm
Kankakee here, I never saw nor heard a cicada inside the city at all. I work on the edge of Kankakee and heard literally 2 or 3 of them when leaving work a week or two ago. I’m rather disappointed by not having them around but obviously I wasn’t disappointed enough to go out of my way to seek them out.

Comment by Aaron B Friday, Jun 21, 24 @ 4:16 pm