A Very Bug Deal: Rare, Blue-Eyed Cicada Emerges From Orland Grassland

ORLAND PARK, IL — A south suburban woman and lover of exotic animals got quite a thrill as she gazed down at 200 pairs of cicada eyes earlier this week.

Kelly Simkins had visited Orland Grassland preserve the morning of May 20 to collect plenty of the bugs for feeding to her reptiles—but one set of eyes caught her attention. Not the striking (or demonic, as some joke) red eyes they're known for. Instead, bright blue.

"I went through hundreds of them, and I found him," Simkins said. "His eyes were really blue."

This year marked a unique occasion: two separate broods of cicadas that only come out of the ground every 13 and 17 years, respectively, hatched together in Illinois for the first time in 221 years, experts say. Unlike many who had been dreading the arrival, Simkins was eager to see them. She had first visited the preserve weeks ago, when the cicadas hadn't quite emerged from their exoskeletons.

She came back just a few days later, and they had hatched. While the synced arrivals are rare, a blue-eyed cicada is even more so, experts say.

"One in a million," said Dr. Gene Kritsky, dean of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, as reported by NBC5.

Simkins, who is a native of Oak Forest and currently lives in Crestwood, said she stopped at the preserve on her way home from Mokena, where she'll soon be moving. Simkins owns two snakes, two geckos, two tarantulas, two birds and seven hissing cockroaches from Madagascar. She incorporates them into Merlin's Rockin' Pet Show, a sort of show-and-tell of exotic animals, where she shares her own animals and teaches people about them. The show gives people and groups an opportunity to see exotic animals up close, even with a chance to pet and hold them.

"These are all my animals, I just started taking care of them," Simkins said. "I added the cockroaches in there. .... It’s just nice to educate people on animals and how to take care of them, and where they’re from."

The cicadas are tasty meals for her animals, and can be frozen and stored for up to a year, she said.

The find has earned Simkins a bit of celebrity—with interviews with NBC and People Magazine, for instance—but Simkins hasn't been the only one lucky enough to find such a remarkable specimen. A 4-year-old Wheaton boy also found a blue-eyed cicada in his family's yard. The family decided to donate it to the Field Museum, where they'll conduct a DNA study.

Initially intent on donating the one she'd found, Simkins has since decided otherwise.

"I’m going to have him taxidermied," she said. "I'm going to keep him."