what is that sound?

It's the mating call of male cicadas.

For the last week or so, in the afternoon and in the evening, a very loud chirping instantly rises from a low background noise, to an overpowering song coming from the trees both in front and behind our room. Their lovely mating call gets loud enough at times that you have to raise your voice to be heard over it. Quite astonishing, actually.

The only thing I know about cicadas (ve ve) before today was that they come out every 17 years. Well, that's the American version, or one of them at least. According to my incredibly knowledgeable students, this cicada is the annual sounding for the beginning of summer.

According to Wikipedia, the male cicadas are the only ones to make this sound and in an unexpected way. Unlike crickets, these bugs use their bodies as a resonance chamber, controlling the sound with the muscles and can alter the tone by moving their bodies away from and toward the tree. Rumor has it, they can reach 106db. I don't doubt it.

I don't know how big they are; I haven't seen them yet. But I keep looking, though the sound sort of freaks me a little. What if they swarm? The sounds is amazing and it swells to a crescendo in mid-afternoon and later in the evening. Check out Stuart's recording.