We went to the Morton Arboretum today to take a walk. The Xanadu sculpture / hut made of intertwined twigs is always fun. No cicadas this time though…last time we were there was last summer and it was the only place we heard the 17-year cicadas since they didn’t really make it into the city. Liam’s friend Peter went with us.
I’m really suprised that you don’t hear cicadas in Chicago – sometimes they’re so loud when we’re on our balcony in Sydney that we have to stop talking! I’ve actually just googled them & the always reliable Wikipedia (!) tells me that there are over 200 species of cicada in Australia and “Cicada sounds are a defining quality of Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra during late spring and the summer months” – I might have to try & get a recording for our blog!
We do hear the regular cicadas in Chicago but not the 17-year cicadas. Do you have those ones? They stay underground for 17 years then all come out for a month or so and make a huge racket, lay eggs, and die. Then it’s quiet for another 17. It was huge news here in the spring that they would be out but really they didn’t come into the city much. The 17-year cicadas have red eyes, that’s how you can tell them apart by looking at them.