After 17 years one of the largest broods of red-eyed cicadas have emerged from the ground for mating, according to CBS News.

The cicada activity will be at its peak in the N.Y. Metropolitan tri-state area, but will spread from Georgia to New Hampshire.

Cicada's spend 17 years underground and come up for only a few short weeks to mate and lay eggs before they die, the adults have a short four-week life span. The eggs then hatch six to eight weeks later, baby cicada's go right back into the ground and remain there for 17 more years.

Their appearance was initially delayed because of the cool spring.

"The cicadas, like the rest of the natural world, is appearing a little later that expected this year," said fellow Hunterdon County Parks and Recreation naturalist Tom Sheppard, reported NJ.com.

Sheppard claimed cicadas will not emerge until the ground reaches the upper 60's in temperature. The high temperature over the past two days has finally coaxed the cicadas out.

"The males tend to come out before the females," said Chris Simon, a cicada expert at the University of Connecticut. "The emergence generally continues for several nights in a row and can be strung out if there is cold or rainy weather," said Chris Simon, a cicada expert at the University of Connecticut, The Record reported.

The cicadas mating call has been measured at 100 decibels, which can be compared to the noise created by a subway train.

While their mating calls may annoy humans, the cicadas are food for plenty of local animals.

"The birds and the raccoons and so on - these animals will feed on them so much to the point where they get just sick of eating them, and there are still millions left," said biology professor Dr. Gene Kritsky. "That's their whole survival strategy, and they're doing this just to reproduce " 1010 WINS reported.

The cicadas that manage to escape the predators will cast off their hard exoskeleton that they will leave attached to sides of houses, trees and any other vertical surface that is in the sun.

Cicadas are not dangerous to humans and will not bite.

"I don't want to have thousands of shells and bodies on the lawn, but it is fascinating. It's a miracle of nature," said Jeanne Sylvester, a Wayne N.J. resident, told The Record.