For those who are not from Tennessee or old enough to remember, cicadas can seem like a plague of locusts.
Every 13 years, Tennessee, along with 13 other states, experience an invasion of cicadas.
While these insects are not related to locusts, they still can reek a havoc of annoyance. The majority of their life cycle is lived underground after they hatch from the eggs that the females lays into bark.
Along with other noises, mating calls are produced by the males, called imagos, and sometimes multiple males join together for a chorus. They can reach around 100 decibels of noise.
The cicadas make noise by using instruments called tymbals that are located on their abdomens. What makes the cicadas so loud? Their bodies are used as resonance chambers, amplifying the sound to deafening levels.
Do not go outside and try and mow the lawn, either. You will more than likely be swarmed by the red-eyed creatures if you try and cut your grass. Cicadas are attracted to noises made my lawnmowers and other machinery because it is similar to their sounds.
Their constant flying around and landing on or flying into people is just an annoyance. If one lands on someone it is just because they need a place to land.
There is no real damage that can be done to people and their pets. If a pet eats a cicada there is no need to worry, it will most likely just give it a stomach ache.
The torture is almost over, though. Cicadas only hang around the Nashville area for four to six weeks. If that timeline holds true, we should all be able to clean our windshields by the end of June.