Cicadas are Loud (OT)

[bkeich]

Not sure where any of you are really, but we live in Hellertown, just outside of Bethlehem, pretty deep in the woods. Walked out today and honestly we both said we can’t stay out very long because it is deafeningly loud (ok, maybe it being 90F also). We literally have hundreds, if not thousands of Cicada shells on our property.

I read an article in the Lehigh Valley Fish Wrapper (Morning Call) saying how this Brood Cycle was disappointing in that there were not nearly as many as was expected.

Anyone else thinking that we have plenty?

(They don’t bother me at all, nature is why I live here, just can’t believe how many we seem to have in our woods)

[RTaylor]

I have fond memories of Hellertown. My grandparents (Robert and Helen Taylor) had a house on Main Street across from the cemetery. They took us to Prosser's (?) Drug Store for treats. My Dad went to Lehigh, and my grandfather was superintendent of schools in the 40s-50s.

[el-pietro]

None here!

[LegoDoom]

I'm in Newtown, PA and haven't noticed at all. I grew up on a very wooded lot and would hear them all the time so maybe I'll a little desensitized to the sound, but I haven't seen any shells either.

[Philsmania]

All quiet in Roxborough.

[growe]

Funny you should mention this. I was coming home from “the Mountains” yesterday and north of Quakertown on 309, I started hearing this loud buzzing coming and going. This was with the windows in the car rolled up, the A/C blasting, the Phillies on the radio and 60 mph of car wind noise. I thought at first something was wrong with the car – a bad a/c compressor or wheel bearing or something! It continued until almost to Souderton. I thought it might be insects but it was amazingly LOUD and very localized and to be honest, I’m just not that tuned into nature to identify the sound. I can’t imagine living in the middle of that kind of noise. Thankfully quiet where I live.

[bkeich]

I can say that I was cutting the grass on my riding mower and I could still hear them as I approached the woods over the mower. While mowing no less than 14 times did I find a cicada on me somewhere or on the mower. Apparently they were annoyed I was mowing.

I went out with a sound meter and stood at the edge of the woods, 101db. At my front door it is 69db. My wife keeps asking when this ends and is there anything we can do. No idea sweetie and nope. I think it is about a month or so in this climate.

Honestly doesnt really bother me, they are harmless and while I like the quiet it isnt a horrible sound.

[bkeich]

I have fond memories of Hellertown. My grandparents (Robert and Helen Taylor) had a house on Main Street across from the cemetery. They took us to Prosser's (?) Drug Store for treats. My Dad went to Lehigh, and my grandfather was superintendent of schools in the 40s-50s.

Well, sadly I can not commiserate. We moved here in February and I just moved back to the Lehigh Valley in 2017 (was here in college from 1984-8).