Cicadas have emerged in Texas County by the thousands

BUCYRUS, Mo. – We’ve been warned for months now the cicadas are coming. For parts of the Ozarks, the cicadas have arrived by the thousands. One yard in Texas County is filled with the noisy nuisance.

In Bucyrus, Missouri, viewer Idalee Beasley sent a simple question, “Why is my yard filled with cicadas and my neighbor has none?”

I wanted to know how many cicadas Idalee was talking about, thinking she saw a couple here and there. When she sent the proof in pictures, I was dumbfounded.

“We have never had them this bad,” Beasley explained, “My mother was born on this farm in the 40s and has never seen them like this. I live in my grandparent’s old farmhouse and they (mom) live across the road and have none.”

Francis Skalicky with the Missouri Department of Conservation says one decade ago there was something in Beasley’s yard the bugs must have liked.

“It all depends on where they went into the ground 13 years ago,” Skalicky says, “For whatever reason, the one with the cicadas, probably had trees 13 years ago that the cicada females found favorable for egg-laying.”

Interestingly enough, Beasley’s cicadas are centered around her lilac bush.

While Beasley’s farmhouse is overtaken with cicadas already, other parts of Texas County haven’t been hit. The University of Missouri Extension office in Houston says they have not had any calls alerting them to the Cicada takeover.

“I thought everyone had them and I posted (a picture) on Facebook and everyone tells me no,” says Beasley.

Of course, it’s only a matter of time.

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