Love Story

Love is in the air, or rather, the lengthy sustained singing of cicadas here in the hills of southwestern Nicaragua. This species makes a sound like tinnitus, a nearly electric tone about two octaves above middle C, lasting 15-20 seconds, followed by a sort of chuckle or clucking sound. It starts at dusk, and continues until dark, about a half-hour later. Not much time to attract the ladies, but this evening, I actually caught a male cicada in the act of performing in one of the tecca trees in the garden. The photos are not ideal, but just look what I saw!

There he is, upper right.

A flash photo shows markings which suggest he is a Spotted Cicada.

A bit blurry -- I was about to leave, when a second arrived...

And lo, they made sweet, sweet love right then and there!

And now we know the birds and bees have nothing over cicadas!