You say si-key-duh, I say si-kah-duh

July

Actually I say si-key-duh, as in cicada. As red-winged blackbirds are always a spring-is-here sound to me, the buzz of a cicada’s wings always signify the hot, hazy days of summer. I’ve been hearing them a lot for about a week now.

The cicadas you hear every year are known as dog-day cicadas, a reference, like the dog days of summer, to appearing when the star Sirius once rose along with the sun. There are also the periodic cicadas, which emerge every 13 or 17 years.

The buzzing whirr sound is made by males who are looking for females for, ahem, you know.

Then there’s the potential for jewelry.

(The TJN photo shows a cicada in the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye.)

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 5:44 pm by Mike Risinit.
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