Buzz Around Town

We love cicadas. As a kid, I never knew what that loud buzzing noise was, and it drove me crazy.  It's Robert's favorite summer sound, and he's passed that love on to the rest of us. The cicadas we usually see each summer are the green "dog day" cicadas.  This year, however, we were in for a treat.

This is the summer of the 17 year cicadas. Everyone's talking about it, everywhere you go, and in every local paper. It's so unreal, fascinating, interesting.

They've been in the ground, as nymphs, feeding on tree roots for the past 17 years.  And then they burrow out.  These are their exit holes, in comparison to Robert's shoe.

Sounds like something off of the sci-fi channel, right?

They crawl up onto bushes or into trees where they molt.

Their shed skins stay behind.

And they land land nearby while they wait to dry off their wings.

So amazing!

They fly up into the high trees, and the droning is nonstop for weeks.  A friend described it best, as an alien ship landing a few blocks away.

They last for several weeks before the females lay their eggs in the tree branches and die.  The babies hatch, go into the ground, and the 17 year cycle begins again.

Here's a video that shows some of their noise.  I mention a lawn mower in the distance, but it's not audible on the video.

(Ahahaha, I can definitely tell that my speech pattern has changed and has more of a drawl since moving here five years ago!  Too funny!)

For more info on the 17 years cicadas, click here