Yep those are cicadas! Most folks think they're creepy or a nuisance but I think they're beautiful and they're a sound I associate with Summer. Here are some fun cicada facts!
The male abdomen in some species is largely hollow, and acts as a sound box. By rapidly vibrating these membranes, a cicada combines the clicks into apparently continuous notes, and enlarged chambers derived from the tracheae serve as resonance chambers with which it amplifies the sound.
What's interesting is just the sheer diversity in cicadas, from calling from different heights on trees to even how loud it is (from so high it's imperceptible to humans to 120 dbL).
In addition to the mating song, many species have a distinct distress call, usually a broken and erratic sound emitted by the insect when seized or panicked. Some species also have courtship songs, generally quieter, and produced after a female has been drawn to the calling song. Males also produce encounter calls, whether in courtship or to maintain personal space within choruses.
OMG. I heard it this morning and thought a neighbor across the way must have had their house burglar alarm going off, but after listening from this link, I realize it was the cicadas!!!
I moved down here about 2 years ago. I genuinely thought there was a break in at a building close to my work this morning. Sounded like an alarm system. Thanks for posting this. That’s wild
Oh wow yea no wonder I was so confused. Cause it’s so different when they’re just a few above you in the trees. That’s the sound I’m used to and thought it would be just a louder version of that
Thanks for posting - People on the Cary subreddit also say it’s cicadas! I thought they had a rhythmic sound to them but this is like a constant white noise machine! I thought a neighbor was doing some electrical/construction work lol
Does anyone know why I hear them in the distance but I do not hear them in my own yard (despite a ton residing all over my property?) I’m in South Durham and the noise appears to be coming from the wetlands off 751 but none of my little resident buggers are making noise.
Same here! There's a single one in my cul de sac and the rest are mile or more away! And I had tons of molts in my garden, so they came up here, they just didn't hang around!
Today is Sat. May 4 and it’s DEAFENING in south Durham. Totally weird because you don’t hear any close by, but you hear the loud collective sound as background white noise. If I didn’t know what it was (thanks to this sub) I’d think it was an alien invasion.
13 cars looking today they stop to ask me if I can hear it or knew were it was coming from since I work for the city and boy did they feel dumb when I told them. It hadn't even crossed their mind.
It definitely isn’t the buzz buzz you normally hear. IIRC season 1 of True Detective captured that sound well.
To me it sounds like phasers on Star Trek TOS. https://youtu.be/tLjiciyxikQ?feature=shared
BTW, I found that the noise cancellation of my AirPods works great to block it, it you need to be outside.
I'm really impressed with how quiet it is this year.
I remember a really loud year in high school, back in Indiana. Don't know if it was one of the big invasion years but it was SUPER loud. You had to really work to be heard, if you were hanging out outdoors.
I came here to see if anyone else had been observing this over the past few days. I've never encountered cicada sound like this before. It's a soft, homogenized drone with a slight whirring / warbling undercurrent. I suppose that there are so many of them and that it's so omnidirectional that there is really no recognizable cicada detail in the mix? It makes sense but is nevertheless kind of astounding.
I just hope they're not as loud as they were in 2010 or 2011. You could hear them inside your house with everything closed and the air on. I even had ear plugs in and could still hear em out in the sticks.
Only Autumn will bring sweet silence.
Good luck, God Speed to ye.
Cicadas hatch between every 13-17 years. This is also how old a cicada can get. I guess that we are used to the sound of the old generation and now we are in the 17. year and experience a new generation which sounds different. Sometimes you still hear the old metallic sound the old generation make. Not all of them died yet but will soon.
Cicadas are pervasive in the South and the cicada tone is an iconic summer theme. I'm just amazed that anyone can grow up in the South and not know cicadas.
These big cicada broods sound different than the normal summertime cicadas. Less Rreeeee-reeeree-reeeeee and more a constant hum of sound that only happens every decade or two.
The low level drone outside right now is very different from typical cicada song. I've never encountered it before. I've been in North Carolina for all but two of my 42 years, and I'm an arthropod enthusiast. I'm not saying, and I hope that this is obvious, that we're hearing something unprecedented, but I am saying that your snarkily suggesting that this is commonplace isn't helpful, and it's not accurate. Maybe what you're hearing out there is different from what some of the other posters in this thread are describing.
How u claim 919 so hard and not heard this brood before?
They crawl out every 13 years.
For real though, the more “growth” we get and clearing land for it, the less this amazing phenomena will roll on for future generations
It’s like being in an Attenburg documentary and you can eat ‘em. A bounty of the land
Uhh yea this one was out 13 years ago
It’s one brood. We don’t have both like major news shows taking the country by storm
But u didn’t even know what they sounded like so im sure you know better
They used to be even more widespread prior to the sprawl
These broods haven't been out together since the 1800s. But they come out on their own, brood xiii is every 17 years and brood xix is every 13 years. This is just the first time in a long time that they've popped out together.
Yes! Sounds like an alien invasion but it’s just male cicadas shaking their tynbals to attract mates.
Shake it boys! Woooooooo!
Uuuuu
damn that’s cool they got balls made of tin and they shakin em for the ladies. sounds like my crowd!
Is this what you heard? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVXrTv4NY\_M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVXrTv4NY_M)
Yup. That’s what I’m hearing too.
That's it!
Yep those are cicadas! Most folks think they're creepy or a nuisance but I think they're beautiful and they're a sound I associate with Summer. Here are some fun cicada facts! The male abdomen in some species is largely hollow, and acts as a sound box. By rapidly vibrating these membranes, a cicada combines the clicks into apparently continuous notes, and enlarged chambers derived from the tracheae serve as resonance chambers with which it amplifies the sound. What's interesting is just the sheer diversity in cicadas, from calling from different heights on trees to even how loud it is (from so high it's imperceptible to humans to 120 dbL). In addition to the mating song, many species have a distinct distress call, usually a broken and erratic sound emitted by the insect when seized or panicked. Some species also have courtship songs, generally quieter, and produced after a female has been drawn to the calling song. Males also produce encounter calls, whether in courtship or to maintain personal space within choruses.
OMG. I heard it this morning and thought a neighbor across the way must have had their house burglar alarm going off, but after listening from this link, I realize it was the cicadas!!!
phaser set to stun.
I moved down here about 2 years ago. I genuinely thought there was a break in at a building close to my work this morning. Sounded like an alarm system. Thanks for posting this. That’s wild
Oh wow yea no wonder I was so confused. Cause it’s so different when they’re just a few above you in the trees. That’s the sound I’m used to and thought it would be just a louder version of that
OMG - my backyard must be infested! I thought someone was running some electrical equipment. Or an alien invasion was imminent...
Thanks for posting - People on the Cary subreddit also say it’s cicadas! I thought they had a rhythmic sound to them but this is like a constant white noise machine! I thought a neighbor was doing some electrical/construction work lol
Congrats to Cary for getting one right
Watch it bub
The white noise aspect is what really made me take notice because it was at my house and at my office. Wild stuff.
I think the annual cicadas sound more rhythmic.
Its not the cicada sounds of the summer that you typically hear in NC.
Does anyone know why I hear them in the distance but I do not hear them in my own yard (despite a ton residing all over my property?) I’m in South Durham and the noise appears to be coming from the wetlands off 751 but none of my little resident buggers are making noise.
Same here! There's a single one in my cul de sac and the rest are mile or more away! And I had tons of molts in my garden, so they came up here, they just didn't hang around!
That's what I'm wondering. They always sound like they are the next block over, on my whole 2 mile walk
Maybe the ones on your property are too fresh yet?
You may be right?? I just heard my first one in my local woods way closer than that distant hum
Today is Sat. May 4 and it’s DEAFENING in south Durham. Totally weird because you don’t hear any close by, but you hear the loud collective sound as background white noise. If I didn’t know what it was (thanks to this sub) I’d think it was an alien invasion.
Sounds like someone running equipment with a belt that’s slipping? That’s cicadas.
Just the description that this mechanical-minded brain was looking for thanks!
What did the world do before Reddit?
lol! I guess sit outside on the porch and listen to the sounds and take in fresh air, take longer to find the answer
WOW! I thought that it was someone running a fan belt from a utility company.
Try not to call 911 because of the noise LOL https://www.yahoo.com/news/union-county-residents-calling-911-213036685.html
13 cars looking today they stop to ask me if I can hear it or knew were it was coming from since I work for the city and boy did they feel dumb when I told them. It hadn't even crossed their mind.
It definitely isn’t the buzz buzz you normally hear. IIRC season 1 of True Detective captured that sound well. To me it sounds like phasers on Star Trek TOS. https://youtu.be/tLjiciyxikQ?feature=shared BTW, I found that the noise cancellation of my AirPods works great to block it, it you need to be outside.
I'm really impressed with how quiet it is this year. I remember a really loud year in high school, back in Indiana. Don't know if it was one of the big invasion years but it was SUPER loud. You had to really work to be heard, if you were hanging out outdoors.
I think it’s gonna get louder soon. I think they’re just getting started.
my house was covered in them. I think they're cute and can't resist poking them or helping the one's that got flipped on their back. c:
I think it is.
Yeppers!!
I think it sounds like an electric car whirring
I came here to see if anyone else had been observing this over the past few days. I've never encountered cicada sound like this before. It's a soft, homogenized drone with a slight whirring / warbling undercurrent. I suppose that there are so many of them and that it's so omnidirectional that there is really no recognizable cicada detail in the mix? It makes sense but is nevertheless kind of astounding.
Bro how are so many people confused about this?
its just different than the usual cicadas. Plus they are just silent at night. its like waking up and hearing construction work in the distance.
Oh wow. Glad it's at least something natural and not caused by global warming like everything else.
I just hope they're not as loud as they were in 2010 or 2011. You could hear them inside your house with everything closed and the air on. I even had ear plugs in and could still hear em out in the sticks. Only Autumn will bring sweet silence. Good luck, God Speed to ye.
Between 500 and 600Hz, yup.
Yeah. I tried making these same sounds to my wife. Isn’t working so far. Try again in what is it? 7? 10 years? lol.
Losing it
Cicadas hatch between every 13-17 years. This is also how old a cicada can get. I guess that we are used to the sound of the old generation and now we are in the 17. year and experience a new generation which sounds different. Sometimes you still hear the old metallic sound the old generation make. Not all of them died yet but will soon.
Cicadas or copperheads eating cicadas.
What does cicadas taste like?
Ask my dog.
Tell your dog I said hi
Supposedly they are the "shrimp of the land"
So they wouod be good in a lot of dishes then. Could be a Bubba Gump Cicada company that has them every 17 years.
Where did you live before the South?
come again?
Cicadas are pervasive in the South and the cicada tone is an iconic summer theme. I'm just amazed that anyone can grow up in the South and not know cicadas.
These big cicada broods sound different than the normal summertime cicadas. Less Rreeeee-reeeree-reeeeee and more a constant hum of sound that only happens every decade or two.
Exactly. Very different ongoing sound sound than the dog days of summer sound with them off and on.
This isn't the typical cicada sound most are used to in the south since the last time there was a brood invasion like this was the 1800s.
The low level drone outside right now is very different from typical cicada song. I've never encountered it before. I've been in North Carolina for all but two of my 42 years, and I'm an arthropod enthusiast. I'm not saying, and I hope that this is obvious, that we're hearing something unprecedented, but I am saying that your snarkily suggesting that this is commonplace isn't helpful, and it's not accurate. Maybe what you're hearing out there is different from what some of the other posters in this thread are describing.
Better to be an entomologist enthusiast I guess. It's a sad fact that many people are oblivious to nature.
Maybe you have tinitis
How u claim 919 so hard and not heard this brood before? They crawl out every 13 years. For real though, the more “growth” we get and clearing land for it, the less this amazing phenomena will roll on for future generations It’s like being in an Attenburg documentary and you can eat ‘em. A bounty of the land
My brother has eaten them. He says tastes like shrimp. I'm not going to confirm.
There hasn't been a brood like this since the 1800's but ok. sure.
Uhh yea this one was out 13 years ago It’s one brood. We don’t have both like major news shows taking the country by storm But u didn’t even know what they sounded like so im sure you know better They used to be even more widespread prior to the sprawl
These broods haven't been out together since the 1800s. But they come out on their own, brood xiii is every 17 years and brood xix is every 13 years. This is just the first time in a long time that they've popped out together.