01 July 2004
songs of nature...
It is another day here in the lab and already it promises to be a busy one, but then again what else is new?
When I actually drive to work, I’ll cut though Rock Creek Park so that I can get over to Wisconsin Ave easily and with out a whole lot of traffic back ups. The past few days I have been hearing the last of the Brood X singing their songs of love.
(Thank you to NC State for this picture.)
It is funny; I kind of remember when they hatched out 17 years ago. I remember finding more of their cases than normal that year, but I really don’t remember seeing the Cicadas themselves.
(Thanks savvygardner.com)
For a while down here all anyone talking about was how “The Cicadas Are Coming!!!” It was almost like the apocalypse was upon us. It was all over the news. Entomologists were warning that the noise would be as loud (if not louder) than standing next to a speaker at a rock concert – I found this very hard to believe as I still had not heard even one of them! Where were these damn bugs?
And then one day as I walked out in the morning to drink my coffee and read the paper I heard this odd noise…At first I thought that someone’s car belts were not adjusted correctly. I kept on waiting to see where the car was – but there was no one around. The occasional car would drive by on the road that my apartment was on – but no matter what the sound did not change. The sounds seemed to be all around me…not coming from one direction in particular. And then I realized – it was the cicadas. Cicada Songs - for your listening enjoyment! But they were not really loud – it was like a low humming noise in the background. I thought to myself “These people that say they are so loud are crazy!”…And then I found out how wrong I was.
At a pool party (over at Phil’s) they were so loud that in order to hear the person next to you speaking, they had to shout! When you went in the house, your ear hurt and rang for a good long time afterwards…Okay, so maybe these bug people were right…I got use to seeing them on my way to the Metro in the morning. Many days, they too were walking along the path to the Metro. They are notoriously bad fliers and are pretty dumb as they fly into everything and everyone. They would fly into cars and Metro trains and hitch rides to other parts of the city – on second thought, maybe they are not as dumb as I first thought. People (men and women alike) would sometimes scream and screech as they were “attacked” by a Cicada. Personally, I kind of liked them. Odd-looking little bugs. But they don’t bite (they actually don’t eat once they emerge from the ground, their only mission once they sprout wings is to carry on their race! Talk about a one-track mind!), they are not a sign of dirtiness (unlike this insect that gives me the "heebie jeeves just by looking at the picture!! Uggg!).
Ewww! Ewww! EWWW! Okay…I am over it now…somewhat…ahhh!
**Shakes herself all over just to make sure that the picture did not come alive**
But anyway, back to the cicadas – so I got use to the sounds of them and then once day as I was walking outside I discovered that it was quiet…they were gone. Yes, every once in awhile I would find one doing the “walk of death” or I would hear one or two of them singing…So, as much as I have wanted to take the metro to work this week (I have a bunch of 7 day express books that I want to read before they are due, as I cannot renew them for a month) I have been driving just so I can hear the cicadas sing. I have noticed that as the week has worn on, their sounds are diminishing…
Hopefully when they come out again in 17 years, I’ll have a place of my own with a few trees where I can once again enjoy their songs of love…
When I actually drive to work, I’ll cut though Rock Creek Park so that I can get over to Wisconsin Ave easily and with out a whole lot of traffic back ups. The past few days I have been hearing the last of the Brood X singing their songs of love.
(Thank you to NC State for this picture.)
It is funny; I kind of remember when they hatched out 17 years ago. I remember finding more of their cases than normal that year, but I really don’t remember seeing the Cicadas themselves.
(Thanks savvygardner.com)
For a while down here all anyone talking about was how “The Cicadas Are Coming!!!” It was almost like the apocalypse was upon us. It was all over the news. Entomologists were warning that the noise would be as loud (if not louder) than standing next to a speaker at a rock concert – I found this very hard to believe as I still had not heard even one of them! Where were these damn bugs?
And then one day as I walked out in the morning to drink my coffee and read the paper I heard this odd noise…At first I thought that someone’s car belts were not adjusted correctly. I kept on waiting to see where the car was – but there was no one around. The occasional car would drive by on the road that my apartment was on – but no matter what the sound did not change. The sounds seemed to be all around me…not coming from one direction in particular. And then I realized – it was the cicadas. Cicada Songs - for your listening enjoyment! But they were not really loud – it was like a low humming noise in the background. I thought to myself “These people that say they are so loud are crazy!”…And then I found out how wrong I was.
At a pool party (over at Phil’s) they were so loud that in order to hear the person next to you speaking, they had to shout! When you went in the house, your ear hurt and rang for a good long time afterwards…Okay, so maybe these bug people were right…I got use to seeing them on my way to the Metro in the morning. Many days, they too were walking along the path to the Metro. They are notoriously bad fliers and are pretty dumb as they fly into everything and everyone. They would fly into cars and Metro trains and hitch rides to other parts of the city – on second thought, maybe they are not as dumb as I first thought. People (men and women alike) would sometimes scream and screech as they were “attacked” by a Cicada. Personally, I kind of liked them. Odd-looking little bugs. But they don’t bite (they actually don’t eat once they emerge from the ground, their only mission once they sprout wings is to carry on their race! Talk about a one-track mind!), they are not a sign of dirtiness (unlike this insect that gives me the "heebie jeeves just by looking at the picture!! Uggg!).
Ewww! Ewww! EWWW! Okay…I am over it now…somewhat…ahhh!
**Shakes herself all over just to make sure that the picture did not come alive**
But anyway, back to the cicadas – so I got use to the sounds of them and then once day as I was walking outside I discovered that it was quiet…they were gone. Yes, every once in awhile I would find one doing the “walk of death” or I would hear one or two of them singing…So, as much as I have wanted to take the metro to work this week (I have a bunch of 7 day express books that I want to read before they are due, as I cannot renew them for a month) I have been driving just so I can hear the cicadas sing. I have noticed that as the week has worn on, their sounds are diminishing…
Hopefully when they come out again in 17 years, I’ll have a place of my own with a few trees where I can once again enjoy their songs of love…
