I always wondered what that noise was...
By Starmaiden
@Starmaiden (9311)
Canada
September 3, 2018 4:37pm CST
Now I know!
Every year during the hottest summer month (August in Canada), I can hear a loud buzzing sound all around me. It seems like it's coming from every direction. I asked my parents what it was when I was a child, and they told me it was the rays of the sun that makes that noise.
Another person says it is the power lines making that noise. Different answers to the same question from different people. They obviously didn't know any more than I did about it.
Recently I was told that what makes that annoying buzz during the summer is actually an insect. The Cicada. Apparently it comes forth from the ground to mate every 17 years. They must have their various time tables because I hear them every summer.
Does the Cicada exist in your country and do you recognize its mating call?
The sound of Dog-day cicadas ( Neotibican ) sounds like an electrical wire humming. They are annual cicadas, so they don't wait 13-17 years to come out. They...
19 people like this
19 responses
@Courage7 (19633)
• United States
4 Sep 18
@Starmaiden Well how would you know. I remember asking tho I was only around 4 yrs old.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
I believed what my mother told me. I had no idea what it was. 
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
I really had no idea. I believed what my mother told me.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
4 Sep 18
It's kuliglig. If you live in the countryside you'll hear that. When I go on a trip, I hear them. But not in my home.
2 people like this
@rakski (112925)
• Philippines
4 Sep 18
@toniganzon oh kuliglig?!? I was born and grew up in the city. Though I experienced this in Banaue, fireflies and kuliglig. Yes we usually here them in countryside
2 people like this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
@toniganzon kuliglig must be the Filipino word for them. They are very noisy. 
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
4 Sep 18
It could be a distorted sound that I hear from that video. It sounds like the sea waves.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
4 Sep 18
@Starmaiden But the kind of noise I heard it could not be an insect
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
@allknowing You may have heard the breeze rustling the leaves on the trees and not the sound of the cicada.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
4 Sep 18
Yes they do. But they're usually in the country side.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
I live in the city and hear them every summer. There are many trees and lakes in my area though.
1 person likes this
@Prachi_Singh (48)
•
4 Sep 18
It's a very familiar sound to me and I did know that it's the sound of some insect but only through your post I came to know the name of the insect to which this sound belongs to. It might be just me but somehow the sound of the insects don't bother me. Infact it makes me feel like I have company and keeps from feeling too lonely. Some creepy company!! 
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157553)
• United States
4 Sep 18
I have them all day every day in the summer and then crickets and tree frogs in the winter. It is funny your parents told you it was the sunshine.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (170010)
• United States
3 Sep 18
Actual cicadas here come out every 17 years..but we do have noisy crickets!
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@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
Crickets are very noisy too, but I prefer them to grove full of cicadas. 
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@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
I never hear them at night. Could be the crickets drowning them out.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (79769)
• United States
5 Sep 18
Yes I'm very familiar with the sounds of cicadas
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
3 Sep 18
They were here back in 2010 and it was so noisy that it was driving people crazy. I hear a cicadas, we call them Katy-dids, every summer but never in my life like that one year when I lived by the river.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
They sort of look like a tree grasshopper. It seems to be the heat that brings them out.
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
4 Sep 18
Cicadas can drive you nuts. I had to endure them when I lived in Las Vegas.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
Agreed. They are very noisy. I prefer the song of the crickets at night.
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@Hannihar (129481)
• Israel
9 Oct 18
@GardenGerty
I would say it is an insect too.
1 person likes this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
4 Sep 18
I think they might, but they vibrate so fast not even a dog can hear them.
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