Monday, June 29, 2009

Cicadas and lightning bugs

Last week while I was driving home from work,  I found my street covered with lightning bugs, so busy with their flashing that it made the street all sparkly. I had never seen them covering a street before. It was very pretty. But as I made my way up the street, I hoped I was not crunching too many of them. :-/

Now that it's hot out, the lightning bugs are everywhere and making up for lost time. They are driven. Sometimes I see them high up in the trees and on other nights they are all low to the ground. This year there seems to be a heck of a lot of them.

Last week I also heard my first cicada of the year. I am one of the few that loves the sounds of cicadas because they're just so darn enthusiastic about everything. And I love lightning bugs because of their clumsy flying and what they have to do to get attention. I think they're completely unaware that absolutely everyone can see them but the one they are flashing their lights for. "Look at me, look at me, whoooooooaaaa........sorry, lady." But put the two of them together? Oh my, that was something. It seemed like there was one lightning bug for every square foot in the backyard and it didn't take long for Violet and me to want to get away from all that activity and get indoors. 

This is a short video of my completely neglected backyard. I don't think you can see the lightning bugs very well but trust me, the air was thick with them. The cicada? Oh, I don't think you can miss that.


7 comments:

Country Girl said...

Oh! There is no movie here. But I love it when everything is covered with fireflies. Cicadas, well only a little!

Susan said...

Wow they are certainly loud! I saw some fireflies too! Thanks for the video!

Deedee said...

I saw my first fireflies last weekend too. There seem to be a lot this year. We usually don't hear cicadas until mid-late July but I'm looking forward to them and to the katydids. It just says summer.

Maria said...

The sound and light explosion this year has been something else! I still get a kick out of both of those bugs though. :-)

Anonymous said...

That was really loud! And yes, we did see a bug or two:) Was that Violet? Hey, Violet!

Q said...

Hi Maria!
Happy summer!!!!
I could see your fireflies and the cicadas are the best sound of summer I know of.
So good to catch up. I have been spinning and I learned to knit... I am head over heels in love with the Paco-Vicuna. The yarn is soooooo soft it is like knitting a cloud...fantastic! It is the only yarn I want to knit.
My husband and I are studying the prairie this summer. I am in search of the pink Katydid!
Sherry

ChicagoGrrrl said...

new post, new post, new post -- where are you?!