Millions of red-eyed winged creatures are here, and they are making quite the buzz.

“Some people will be irritated, others will be intrigued or repulsed,” said Doris Taylor, plant information specialist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

Despite one’s feelings about them, hordes of cicadas are here. And one thing’s for sure: They aren't quiet about it.

Those attending an outdoor concert may hear more than just the vocals of the singer on stage. And the bride whose heart is set on an outdoor wedding may have more than rice flying at her.

Patrick Kelley and his fiancée Jamie Beusse, of Naperville, did not consider the cicadas when they booked their wedding for the end of June. Though the ceremony will be held indoors, the couple is concerned for the wedding pictures scheduled to be taken along the Naperville Riverwalk.

“They may cover the bridge,” said Kelley. “We have to talk to the (city) to see if anyone will clean them up.”

Though Kelley did not grow up in this area, his fiancée told him how bad they can be.

He said the last thing she wants is cicadas on her wedding dress.

Denise McElroy, who helps coordinate wedding ceremonies in Wilder Park Formal Garden in Elmhurst, is not too worried the cicadas will interrupt outdoor ceremonies.

But she is taking some precautions.

“What we are recommending is that our renters bring in microphones,” she said, concerned the level of noise may interrupt some ceremonies in June, when they are expected to be the loudest.

The insects are part of the largest group of periodical cicadas. They spend 17 years underground, living off sap from tree roots. This is the time when they will appear in mass, shed their brown skeletons and mate. Before they die, females will lay the eggs of the batch scheduled to arrive in 2024.

Once it reaches 65 degrees or warmer, cicadas visit for four to six weeks.

The periodical cicadas have red eyes instead of green like the annual ones. They can emerge in vast numbers — as many as 1.5 million per acre — in a path about 200 miles long that stretches from northwestern Indiana to Wisconsin.

They will mostly come to areas heavily wooded as they did during their last appearance in 1990 or to suburbs with many trees. Areas that are highly wooded but are sites of major construction are not expected to see as many cicadas.

Despite their racket, these pesky visitors are not dangerous. Cicadas do not carry diseases and in fact, are healthy to munch on. There are several recipes for cicada dishes.

They also will not harm mature trees. For smaller trees or plants, Taylor suggested wrapping them with fine netting. The arboretum is protecting 45 of its younger trees, 10 feet or shorter, from the slits cicadas make to open branches and lay eggs.

Still, agencies like the Lombard Park District are taking no precautions. The slight damage the cicadas may do to smaller plants is not worth the expense of preventing it, said Jerry Budd, the Park District’s horticulturist.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, I don’t think it’s going to be significant enough to justify doing a lot of netting,” Budd said. “On a large scale, it’s probably not necessary or efficient. The phenomenon is really more interesting than anything.”