Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Sound of Cicadas

Having just returned from the cottage, I am reminded that I wanted to share this picture of a cicada (from the Latin for "tree cricket") that I took a couple of weeks ago.  For no particular reason except that I am fascinated by the pattern on its head and the see through wings.

It was resting on one of our wooden Muskoka chairs down by the lake while we were taking a dip in the water.  It wasn't making that distinctive sound that cicadas usually do when it's hot, even though it was that hot at the time. 

My grandmother always used to call them tree frogs,  Now that I am older, I wonder why and wish she was here for me to ask her.  Although when I Google "tree frog", they apparently do exist and are known as the grey tree frog here in Ontario.  According to this website, the sound they make is "a short trill" but I don't know how that compares to the sound of a cicada.

You can read a little bit about cicadas here if you are so inclined.

1 comment:

JeanLionS said...

Thanks for this. I grew up in Toronto, and my grandmother (who grew up around Wellandport) used to call them tree frogs too - which they aren't. And for years I've yearned to be able to ask her about it. Maybe it was a southern Ontario thing, one person in the area got it wrong a couple hundred years ago and it spread. Here is the sound of various Ontario frogs, including tree frogs: http://www.trentu.ca/biology/berrill/frog_calls/Frog_calls.htm