“It is amazing to see millions and millions and millions of cicadas all in one place,” said Chris Simon, a professor in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut and a leading cicada researcher. “People are always amazed. They’re underground growing, then all of a sudden one morning there will be cicadas all over tree trunks, car tires, the sides of the house, shrubbery, telephone poles, basically any vertical objects.”