I heard a few cicadas during the day Saturday in Jefferson Park, so I walked out later that evening to see if I could record sounds from any. I thought I heard an especially noisy group over by the fieldhouse (above), but the sound turned out to be from a laboring air conditioner in a nearby apartment building. Only when I got home and checked online did I realize that cicadas are mostly nocturnal. It's katydids that sing at night.

I went back into the park on Sunday afternoon and managed to record some of the cicadas' mating calls. But the expected cacophony just wasn't there; maybe later this week as the park heats up with continued daytime highs in the upper 80s will coax more of this insectoid chorus to raise their voices in song.

Over at the CVS drugstore, one of the pharmacists who lives a couple of miles from here in Harwood Heights says cicadas have emerged in droves there. Here in Jefferson Park, I've only heard a few cicadas -- and haven't seen any at all.

One question that's puzzling me about cicadas is how to best describe their mating calls. These sounds, which are made only by the males, usually are characterized as an "electronic buzzing" or "electronic whine." Cicadas have been around a lot longer than electronic devices. If none of us had experienced an out-of-whack TV set or badly tuned radio, what would we say they sound like?

CICADA INFORMATION

ChicagoCicadas.com -- Great starting point for Chicago-area information on these bugs.

Chicago Cicada Central -- University of Illinois Extension offers great links to video and audio, as well as to media coverage of the brood.

UPDATE

I'm not hearing any more cicadas in Jefferson Park. At least here, the invasion's been a dud.

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