Blog post: swansont: Where the Cicadas Are, 2013

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGewlL1KzY]

The video is for listening, mostly. I know it's cicada season and brood II was supposed to be big in places along the mid-Atlantic and northeast, but I had only heard a few buzzes thus far — where I live and work were inundated back in 2004 by brood X, and I don't know how much that crowds out other groups. It makes sense we wouldn't have a big brood XI, if the hordes from the previous year allowed a predator population explosion, but I've seen some in other years and expected more this year.

But once I got outside of town to go geocaching, I saw (and heard) swarms. The background sound that's reminiscent of the phaser sound on the original Star Trek is the chorus, and then there's the other chirping/buzzing. And it was LOUD. It's interesting that the buzzing comes and goes, like a resonance. It's like one cicada starts calling and the others join in because they don't want to be left out of advertising to the ladies.

I had one land on me and start calling, which was a little weird because all of the sudden there's this screaming sound coming from a different place than the background. Plus, I'm not his type. Unfortunately I didn't bring my slo-mo camera; there was a lot of flying about going on, which I'd like to capture. Maybe all the factors will cooperate next weekend.
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