Friday, August 28, 2009

The Sound of Summer: Cicadas

I was walking to the laundry room in my apartment when I noticed some big black spot on the door.With closer inspection I realized it was a cicada. It wasn't moving so I assumed it was dead. But when I nudged it, it kinda side-stepped to the left.These insects can have a life span of over 15 years. They spend it mostly underground and spend the last five weeks of their lives above ground to find a mate, mate and then die.In Montreal, we would hear these damn things only on the hottest days of summer. Apparently that's when they are more apt to "sing." In Korea, you hear them all the time for about a month. And then suddenly, silence.



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The males have these timbals which are plate-like membranes on the sides of their abdomen that vibrate to emit this shrill ear piercing sound. Uhhhh, I remember staying awake at nights listening to them as a kid. It's like nails scratching on the blackboard. But at least back home they were some distance away but in Seoul they're right at your window or in my case my laundry room. And these guys are loud.



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Once, I had one stuck to the screen on my bedroom window. I looked up to see the back end of a big dark bug with veiney wings shaking its butt at me. There was a piece of me that wanted to open the screen and keep it. I can't help but touch. But while I was lying there contemplating taking him in and it would be a him since it's the males that do the "calling" the noise was progressively driving me nuts. Some species of cicadas can reach up to 106 decibals which is like a car horn. So, I got up and flicked at the screen and the chubby cicada just fell away.

Here's a video I found on the life cycle of a cicada.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYLxxALTfAQ

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