Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Love is in the air this spring in the eastern United States, where billions of cicadas will soon appear in the biggest emergence event since 2004.The insects are part of a group called Brood X — also known as the Great Eastern Brood — which is expected in a geographical range stretching from Tennessee to New York.These cicadas have been subterranean for 17 years, tunneling and feeding beneath the soil. When they are back above ground, finding a mate will be, understandably, a top priority. The loud, buzzing drone cicadas make is actually a mating song emitted by male insects, flexing a drumlike organ called a tymbal."It's all boys calling girls," said entomologist Eric Day of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University extension. "First you get a few here and there, then what happens is they start chorusing — there's so many of them that the cicada calls all combine in this huge chorus."While cicadas can be a nuisance for some orchardists and farmers, witnessing them is also an awe-inspiring experienc