Mother Nature has turned up the volume on my tinnitus to a nerve-wracking cacophony. The "Peridiocal Cicadas" known by entomologists as Brood XIV are emerging here on Cape Cod right on schedule. Every 17 years, these cicadas complete another life-cycle when nymphs buried under ground emerge to molt and mate in unimaginable numbers. They remain in the nymph stage for 17 years and because of this are considered the longest-lived of all insects.
I first witnessed this remarkable phenomena when I moved to Cape Cod in 1991. I awoke one day to a deafening noise. I opened my door to investigate the source of this racket. The shock! I thought I was still asleep and in the midst of a nightmare! There were *thousands* of these HUGE insects in various stages of shedding their armour-like shells, emerging into winged creatures of spectacular proportion and coloring. With their bulging red eyes contrasted against plump black bodies and veined transparent wings, their sheer number made the sight and SOUND surreal and unforgettable. I had never seen anything like this before (except in horror films.) Since earliest memory, I have had a "phobic" reaction to large insects. It has taken a conscious effort to bring this irrational fear reaction under control over the years. Gardening helped in this regard, and I learned to appreciate the uniqueness of the insect realm, but I confess there are some insects I still prefer to observe from afar, and the cicada is one of them.
After my cicada initiation in 1991, I forgot about them... until now. As I write, their unrelenting "singing", which will continue for another month, pervades my auditory sensation...akin to the nerve-grating scratching of fingernails on a chalk board, to a meditative-like white noise. The return of the cicadas mark my 17th year on Cape Cod, where flora and fauna give rise to endless fascination.
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Return of the Cicadas