Volver our cat wakes me up meowing every morning wanting to go outside. And when I get back into bed, the roosters start crowing. When I finally decide to get up knowing I’ll never get back to sleep again, the cicadas begin their rave party and go on for hours.

Cicadas live about 17 years underground sucking tree sap for their survival.  Then, in a kind of rapture, they all come out in hoards and, from larvae, turn into winged insects.  The males immediately start singing looking for a mate.  The hotter the weather, the louder they sing. After mating, the females deposit their eggs in the tree.

I wonder if the frequency of their singing has any effect on humans. The sound can be quite overwhelming at times. To drown them out, I play Linda Ronstadt singing “Como la Cigarra”.

Related: Cicadas on National Geographic

-30-