Cicadas

About ten days ago, I was driving north on 9D near Fishkill NY.   As I passed the Stonykill Farm, I heard this strange sound....similar to the sound made by a bicycle when a card is attached to the spokes of the wheel.  I asked my son-in-law, who is very knowledgeable about such things, if that was the sound of the Cicadas.  He said he didn't think it was.  The Cicada is a very ugly bug (about 1 to 2 inches in length) that lives in the ground.  There are different species, but this one is called the "periodical Cicada."  That is because it only surfaces once every seventeen years.  It looks for a mate.   The female deposits her eggs in a groove in a tree branch.  When the egg hatches, the tiny bug frees itself from the groove and falls to the ground.  It burrows in search of a food source and stays there approximately seventeen years.  Then, it starts the same cycle again.

About four days later, we were at St. Mary's Church in Fishkill, which is situated about two or three miles east of the farm.  When we got out of the car, my son-in-law heard the same sound (now louder) and commented that it was probably the Cicadas.  My granddaughter stated that it sounded like a car alarm.  A few days later, in Lagrangeville which is northeast of Beacon and Fishkill, you could hear the same sound, estimated to be 7Khz.  It reminded me of a sound you would hear in the Southeastern section of the country.  This past Saturday, I drove south on Route 9 into Cold Spring.  This area is more heavily forested.  The nose was very loud and occasionally a flying Cicada would hit the windshield or roof of the car.  Eerie....

I noticed after a few days that I just got used to the noise.  It must be like what a person who has tinnitus experiences.  In a few weeks, the noise will subside and life will go on.

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