David and I had a nice weekend… and we encountered several million new friends.
We drove down to Morton Arboretum to relax and walk around and take photos. Actually, although I had my camera along, I took no images, but just enjoyed the sounds. We finally encountered the 17-year cicadas, and they put on a pretty impressive show. The Arboretum had some informative displays, but we got away from the crowds on the “visitor center” side and went over to the section on the other side of the highway. It was a lot less busy and we rolled down the windows to listen to the cicadas – close by they have a harsh, rattling chirring sound, but from a distance, they make an otherworldly wavering humming sound. Very weird. And then the next day, we went back south to David’s parents to help them dig holes to install a little garden arbor in back of their townhouse.
On the way back, we stopped off at a couple of roadside forest preserves to see if we could record the sound of the cicadas with David’s little digital recorder. The results weren’t all that good, but he went out after work today to record again at the Arboretum and got a better sound clip. It doesn’t capture the full “spaceship landing” feeling, but you can hear what it sounds like, along with some birdsong and a passing jet.
Download Cicada