The buzz is about cicadas.

People are yakking about cicadas. These insects will be making a racket in May and June. Cicadas (suh-KAY-duhs) spend years underground, where they suck sap from tree roots. They are silent during that time, which is called their juvenile stage.

But eventually they come out of the ground, and that's when things get noisy. The males make a vibrating buzz-whistle to attract females. Their singing organs are on their sides, behind their wings. Sometimes their singing also inspires other males to start making noise.

Cicadas also make a squawking noise when danger approaches. The vibrating squawk may be enough to make a predator, like a bird, drop the cicada so it can escape and live a little longer.

Most of the 10 kinds of cicadas found in Michigan live underground for about 10 years before they emerge as adults, mate and die. But some adults of most kinds come out every year. So in any summer, you can expect to see or hear a few cicadas in July or August. Some people call these "dog-day cicadas" because they sing during the hottest part of the summer--the "dog days."

But 2004 is different. The periodical cicadas will be coming out in huge numbers, before the usual dog-day cicadas. These earlier cicadas are on a 17-year cycle and emerge from the ground within just a few days of each other.

When they do, you won't be able to miss them. There can be as many as hundreds of thousands or even a million cicadas on an acre of land, according to Thomas Moore, retired biology professor at the University of Michigan, who has been studying cicadas for more than 50 years. These periodical cicadas are unique to the eastern United States.

Moore says the periodical cicadas in Michigan are concentrated around Ann Arbor and are also expected in large numbers in Livingston, Oakland and Lenawee counties. This year's periodical cicadas are part of a large population stretching from Long Island to northern Georgia and Illinois. It is called Brood X (or 10).