Duluth/Superior: Summer Is Over When You Hear This Noise

There are certain signs Summer is ending. The leaves turn (sometimes they change early), shipping starts tapering off, kids go back to school, and these things show up.

I am talking about that buzz you hear, only in this area in the late Summer early Fall. The sound of Cicadas. They have that certain sound that you can spot right away when they buzz outside your window. You know 'em when you see 'em, is what my Uncle used to say.

The buzz takes on the sound of a power line, you know that hum that old powerlines have?. At our cabin, we couldn't tell if it was the power lines or the transformer. The sound is actually their mating call and they are looking for a mate around the end of summer. Just be glad they aren't like the Cicadas in Africa, they can get as loud as 106.7 decibels according to Cicada Mania. That is just a little quieter than a Motley Crue concert.

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While I was looking up facts in this article, I found out on wildlife informer, that you can eat cicadas. Some people describe their taste as shrimp-flavored popcorn. Would I want to eat them when I like those flavors? Um, NO!

Cicadas will eat plant liquid when they are young, but once they shed their exoskeleton and turn into adults, they don't need much to eat according to wildlife informer. They only live to be 6 weeks old. That will tell you how many of them are born and live and die. I have seen many of them around, so if they have that short of a life, then there must be millions of them.

When they start the mating season and you hear that buzz, that is your signal, you need to start taking out your sweaters and looking for the changing of the colors.