'Bourbon brood' cicadas start emerging in Kentucky after 17-year slumber

Kentucky is known as the land of horses, bourbon and bluegrass — and soon, it will be home to a whole lot of cicadas.

Kentucky is known as the land of horses, bourbon and bluegrass — and soon, it will be home to a whole lot of cicadas.

Billions of the winged insects are set to emerge from underground starting this month for a weekslong, frenzied and famously noisy mating ritual.

This year, cicadas are expected to pop out of the ground in nearly a dozen states, but the emergence will mostly be centered in Kentucky and Tennessee. The insects will also appear in Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and small portions of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York.

Some have nicknamed this season’s cicadas the “bourbon brood,” because of their concentration across Kentucky.

“We’re kind of the epicenter, so it just felt like we could make it Kentucky proud,” said Jonathan Larson, an assistant extension professor in entomology at the University of Kentucky.