I had no idea until a few weeks ago what the sound was that we heard except it was very loud – my thoughts were – could it be a tree frog, a cricket or something else?!! No we discovered from friends it was a “Cicada”. These insects are most famous for the loud buzzing noises that can be heard during the day and into the evening. They are at their most quiet at the coolest times of the day.
At last I have managed to see a cicada today!! Well it was twice as good as I actually managed to see 2, one in a friend’s garden and the other in our own. They were around 2 inches in size, however sizes vary and they can range between 3/4 inch to 2 1/2 inches.
For those of you who are like me and know nothing of these insects I did some digging around today and found out a few things about them.
Amazing to find out that the majority of the lifespan of the cicada is spent underground and can remain underground for 13 to 17 years where they feed on the juices of tree roots. After this time they emerge from the soil when the temperature eight inches below the surface reaches 64 degrees. Once above ground, the periodical cicadas feed from a wide variety of deciduous plants and shrubs.
Once the cicadas emerge they break out of their shell into their adult form and it is at this stage that the male adult starts calling to find a mate before it dies so they are very loud (up to 100 decibels) and sometimes as loud as a rock concert and can be heard up to a mile away. This is done by tymbals in their stomach vibrating in their hollow abdomen. The tymbals contract 300-400 times per second to create the buzzing noise we know so well. The abdomen amplifies the sound like the hollow body of a guitar.
Cicadas remain above ground for about a month to reproduce, before laying their eggs on tree branches and dying. The cicada offsprings will fall to the ground and burrow in the soil until they re-emerge 13-17 years later.