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Cicadas 2021 - Brood X


FXW176
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6 minutes ago, nj2va said:

I'm noticing 'cicada rain' today falling from the trees on the side of my house.  yuck

When walking the dog at the heavily-wooded and cicada-infested Coast Guard property next door several evenings ago (a perfectly clear evening, I might add), my wife made a face and said, "Is it sprinkling??" I didn't have the heart to tell her...especially just after she mistakenly stepped on a dead cicada, and its bodily contents squirted up her calf.  :D 

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13 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

i also now finally have a bunch of cicadas flying around. the cats are going to go nuts.

hopefully your cats aren't like my dogs, who do nothing but eat the damn things. all the time. i will be glad when they are gone. ive had two puke in the house, and the piles of disgusting poop outside are hard to miss. sigh. 

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26 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

i also now finally have a bunch of cicadas flying around. the cats are going to go nuts.

I'm amazed at the amount of fliers during this emergence. I don't remember this at all when Brood X last came to visit. Like, ALL of the trees are abuzz with activity and noise this time around.

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2 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

I'm amazed at the amount of fliers during this emergence. I don't remember this at all when Brood X last came to visit. Like, ALL of the trees are abuzz with activity and noise this time around.

This is like 1987 IMO. It is a much more significant and active emergence

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14 hours ago, H2O said:

I legit feel bad when one meets my car. I yell “you dumb sonofabitch!”

They aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, that's for certain!  I've seen them fly into telephone poles (and bouncing off), land in the middle of the street, etc.  I guess there's a reason they emerge by the billions!!

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13 hours ago, wxtrix said:

i think familiarity would breed contempt in this case, lol. but there are plenty of other insects ready to take over the singing gig soon enough.

The regular annual cicadas will be around come mid-summer!

This week has definitely been the most active and loud (since the cold and rain last weekend), and I've seen very many flying around.  There's cherry tree nearby that is covered with Cassinis, all over the branches, and singing up a storm!  Pretty cool!!

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They are the loudest this AM.  Easily heard inside with windows closed and AC on.

I was in the bathroom and one landed on the skylight and started its fanfare.  Reminded me of a high pitched Klaxon horn (aka dive alarm) which is the LAST thing I want to hear when in the can! :|

Finding more and more holes in my rounds.  Good aeration for the soil that's for sure!

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From our house it's mostly a distant drone of pharaohs from woods a few hundred yards away, and a few individuals closer here and there.  But driving yesterday just a couple miles away the noise was suddenly astonishing at a red light, even with the windows up.  I put them down and could not believe the noise.  It was cassinis and they were all over a stand of big cherry trees.  The hissing buzz-saw sound was unreal.  I can't imagine the people that live right near that spot.  Then at the next light very little noise.

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A few words about sound pressure measurements...

First, apps for smart phones may not be properly calibrated.  Depending on the app and what you have (another meter/reference) you may or may not be able to do anything about this!  If the app recognizes the device properly this should be done for you AND should be reasonably accurate.  SPLs at the extreme ends (<30 dbA or >120dBA) are NOT going to be accurately represented.

Second and most important!  The app will be the most accurate without any case on the phone.  I know it sounds weird, but that apps are expecting a certain frequency response and baseline of the device's main microphone.  A thick, protective case has several millimeters of resin between the device opening and the surface.  To see how this can affect levels try covering your ears with your fingers extended so your palms are an inch from your ear (pinna).  Especially the pharaoh frequency range!  Amazing how much louder it sounds.  This gain affects the midrange most.

And finally, to measure (noise) levels, be sure your app is set to 'A' weighting.  This is the curve used by OSHA and other agencies to develop guidelines for health and safety when exposure to noise levels becomes a factor for workers.  Other common weights like C or unweighted will show much higher sound pressure levels since it's measuring all frequencies and lower frequencies while not nearly as threatening to hearing will push the number to very high levels.  This is why an instrument set to unweighted will show 120dB when a large tractor drives by but on A it's only 90dB.

90dB A in the mid range (like cicadas) is quite loud and makes it nearly impossible to hold a conversation without raising your voice significantly.  Using a cell phone would be nearly impossible without some type of advanced noise cancelling headset, for example.

I find my Apple Watch series 5 built in noise meter is actually quite accurate.  It constantly buzzes me about it being too loud around power saws for good reason!  My ported 661 (chainsaw) idles at 101 dBA at three feet!

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52 minutes ago, wxtrix said:

plus katy-dids, crickets, and handsome trigs!

they seem to organize themselves very quickly.

the spaceship chorus is very loud this morning and the backyard cassinis are starting to organize again.

Seems the Cassinis are late risers compared to Septendecim. In the morning I don't really hear them (only hear the din of Septendecim) but by noon they are going strong! And pretty sure I heard Septendecula at one point, the "tick tick tick tick" clock sound. 

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Drove up to Glen Burnie today to see them- southern edge starts around Lothian, first deathband was in Harwood- about a dozen splattered on the windshield. One hitched a ride for several miles and flew off unharmed. Glen Burnie was really loud around the woods, lots of flyers but not as many as 2004 IMHO

We all enjoyed seeing them one last time though. B)

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