Cicadas: Noise, myth and biology
Cicadas compensate for near invisibility by making an enervating noise. Cicadas noise equals the sound effect of an aircraft or a rock concert.
You know summer has come to southern Italy, when you can’t hear your own thoughts for the enervating noise of cicadas.
Noisy Buggers
As I understand it, the small insects have a built-in drum in their abdomen that can produce noise of up to 120 dB at close range. That equals the sound effect of an aircraft or a rock concert. Enough, to disable phone calls and conversation and to drive anyone, who has to live with the sound from dawn to dusk a little crazy.
Cicadas are temperature sensitive animals, so they don’t make a racket until the thermometer has climbed up over 30C. Then they start clicking very loud and very early in the morning and continue till midnight. Fortunately, they have the consideration to turn down the volume around noon, when everyone surrenders to the heat.
To a Scandinavian the idea of singing cicadas seems attractively romantic, but in reality it can be a regular pain in the neck.Some days the situation is so desperate, it almost makes you wish for rain.
A One Tree Cosmos
I suppose, you could forgive the cicadas if the din served a purpose, but from what I have read, these insects live their entire lives within a very small radius. In fact, they prefer to stay put around a specific tree. Female cicadas lay their eggs in the bark, the eggs develop into nymphs that slide down the trunk to draw juice from tree roots. In due course, when the nymphs have grown up, they climb back up the tree, leave their skin and start searching for a mate.
The clicking noise serves as a male point of attraction, but as the love of their life is always just around the nearest branch, they might be a bit more discreet.
A live cicada seeking refuge on a towel.
Heard but not seen
Now their discretion is entirely visual. In spite of the noise, it is difficult to catch sight of the cicadas, unless you are satisfied with the dry discarded skin they leave behind on tree trunks and steel wires. I don’t think I have seen live cicadas more than twice, one of which demonstrated an alternative mode of singing every time a wanton 11-year-old poked it with his shoe. The cries of the poor insect were heartbreaking, but also highly entertaining, if you asked the kids.
The Immortal Prince
They are not familiar with Greek myth saying that the cicada is the lover of the Titan dawn goddess Eos. She fell in love with a beautiful prince and Zeus helped her to make the prince immortal. Yet they forgot to grant him eternal youth, so the prince ended up as a shrivelled old corpse. He maintained his powerful voice, however, and he is still using it.
The shrivelled corpse of an immortal prince.
Notes similar to this on Cicadas noise
Thanks for educating me on the cicadas. I really enjoyed reading about them, and have added you to my Top 10 over at http://www.italytutto.com
Hi
We are on holiday in Italy from South Africa
We don’t have these in SA
But as a fly fisherman, it’s a popular fly (actually the most important) in Argentina and many parts of America
Interesting. Thanks for letting me know.
An enlightening post. I first heard about your blog over at Europe a la Carte and I must say that you offer a truly fresh and unique perspective on Italy travel and Italian living.
This story about the cicadas is a fascinating one, but Italy has a lot of little myths and stories like this that natives swear by. The little insects can be annoying when then "sing" all through the day. But when you think about the romance of their story and what their presence here signifies (the start of one of our favorite and most popular seasons), their noise is a lot easier to deal with.
I look forward to reading more of your blog and hearing more of your adventures in my home country!
Now I know why sometimes, just sometimes, I wish for a little peace and quiet, and it’s nice to know I’m not alone. Thanks for this, an informative read and love the bit of mythology thrown in too :-)
Your welcome, but maybe we should be careful about what we wish for. Yesterday we had a terrific thunderstorm annonced by the sudden silence of the cicadas five minutes before the clouds rolled in.
I first heard cicadas when I moved to Korea – they would drive me crazy in the summers! haha
I know you have been around, so you must have encountered hundred of cicadas along the way.
It does sound romantic, but I imagine it would get old quickly, …a bit like cats fighting outside your window during the night, fun for about 5 minutes.
Very interesting post on cicadas! Knowing the myths makes you think twice when you hear them, and you hear them a lot in Georgia!
I guess you do. Wonder if their are different species with different noises in different parts of the world.
Yes there are many different cicadas that all have their own song, the NZ cicadas sound very different to the ones that are in Georgia USA right now, since I grew up in NZ and was used to hearing cicadas every summer moving to Georgia in 2018 this is the first year (2024) that I have heard cicadas here and the sound was confusing at first as it sounds more like a constant sound that pulses where in NZ it was more of a clicking sound.
How interesting. I think all the cicadas I have heard in various places sound the same, but I like the idea that they speak different languages.
Thank you. I love this xxx
My pleasure.
yooo this shits bonkers bro ive always been awful curius what that noise was i always thot it was trees cursing at each other lawd help them lil heffers