Cicada's Song...

Saturday evening I took a stroll to the mailbox, and as usual took along the camera. I have been a bit remiss in the last few weeks of taking my usual 'environmental' photos of...well, the environment. Savannah continues to be muggy and hot, but after the long rainstorm of several days ago, I remain hopeful that stormy skies will return in the not too distant future. A few days of "possible/scattered" thunderstorms are predicted for the coming week, so I am knocking wood.

One thing that is very prevalent here are the shocking deep pink blooms of the Crepe Myrtles that dot the grounds, and most of Savannah, for that matter. I believe the technical color name for the fluffy groups of blooms pictured above is "Watermelon Red".

One thing we have had for weeks now are the droning, chirruping serenades of the Cicadas. One of my favorite sounds growing up in Georgia was the chirping of crickets. So soothing during the dark breezy nights of summer. The lovely din always delivered the perfect somber yet magical mood for night, and lulled me to sleep at bedtime. The Cicadas? Think crickets on Steroids. The droning is immediately identifiable to these strange winged insects, and the volume level is quite impressive. I enjoy the Cicada songs, too, but it didn't really register just how loud they are until I was on the phone with my step-mother. I was sitting on the screened in porch chatting with her, and at times I had a little trouble hearing her. It was amazingly loud. She even commented that she could hear them.

The following video is one I took with the camera I have. This camera doesn't record in high quality, and my "less than" steady cam work makes it look like a shot from a low budget horror movie. The main purpose of the video is to give an idea of how loud and continual the Cicadas song is.

I am not 100% certain what they are supposed to be saying. When you are outside listening to it, it does sound like a lot of it is coming from up high in the trees. However, since they are all around here it is hard to tell where the sound is coming from. The video isn't like being up close and personal, but I think one can get the gist.