What are these bugs that make long obnoxious noises late in the summer? They're in the trees and r never seen

Question

These bugs seem to be most noisy when it's really hot outside! The sound is really long and drawn out and almost sounds electrical if that makes sense...the sound is really hard to describe but they just go on and on! It sounds like they're high up in the trees! What are they?

Answer 1

A cicada is any of several insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent, well-veined wings. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are one of the most widely recognized of all insects, largely due to their large size and remarkable (and often inescapable) acoustic talents. Cicadas are sometimes called "locusts", although they are unrelated to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper. Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs

Answer 2

Cicadas are insects belonging to the family Cicadidae in the order Homoptera. Cicadas are recognizable by their large size (>1 inch) and clear wings held rooflike over the abdomen. Most cicadas are strong fliers that spend their time high in the trees, so they are rarely seen or captured. Their life cycles are long, usually involving multiple years spent underground as juveniles, followed by a brief (roughly 2-6 weeks) adult life above ground. As juveniles and adults, they feed on the xylem fluid of woody plants using piercing and sucking mouthparts. As adults, males produce a loud species-specific mate-attracting song using specialized sound-producing organs called tymbals. These sounds are among the loudest produced by any insects. In some species, the male calling song attracts both males and females to mating aggregations, while in other species males remain dispersed. Female cicadas do not have tymbals, but in some species the females produce clicking or snapping sounds with their wings. After mating, females lay eggs in bark or twigs; the eggs hatch later in the season and the new nymphs burrow underground and begin feeding on roots.

Answer 3

They sound like they're Cicadas. They are about an inch and a quarter long and live in the ground as larvae. After they pupate, they climb up into the trees, shed their outer skin and begin to call for a mate. That is the sound you hear. They are mostly harmless, unless your cat eats them, and pukes them up later on your living room carpet.

Answer 4

they're called cicadas -- and you described it perfectly... "electrical" hits the nail on the head. it's a very high pitched kind of buzzing. "obnoxious" describes it perfectly... try "extremely irritating" too. in fact have you noticed that you hear them all the time, but never see one ???

and here is a wonderful website with a huge pic of one -- isn't it beautiful?

http://cicadamania.com/cicadas/

and there is a website who is obsessed with cicadas and made some recordings (as if you wanted to hear more.)
http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/Index.html


Now do you feel better? imagine these little cute bugs in the trees singing to their heart's content and maybe you won't be as irritated by them if you picture them as part of the wonderful world of nature :-)

oh, one last thing, I'm glad you asked this question because I found this interesting website: ARE CICADAS GOOD TO EAT?
(complete with recipes) .. I didn't know this before, but did you know that cicadas are dangerous to your pets????
http://www.cicadamania.com/delicious.html

Answer 5

We called them LOCUS and they did not bite anybody.
I liked the sound and sundown like crickets at night.
I live in Detroit and when the street lights came on or the locus made their noise we were in the house for night. Good time to take a bath and hop in bed playtime is over. Seriously I hear them right now and I am signing off the computer. Good Night

Answer 6

Locusts

Answer 7

Heat bugs

Answer 8

Cicadas. I always loved them, even if some close-by can be really loud, but it's not too bad. I know their "call" can vary depending on where you are, so maybe ours aren't as obnoxious as yours. lol

Answer 9

They are called, "cicadas". They are rather big and ugly and they are breeding and shedding their skins. You can find the "shells" of their skins on block walls around the trees they "buzz".

Answer 10

i think theyre those pidgeon things, whenever i hear the sound, i look where its coming from, and there they are. plus when i make the sound, the look around really quick, thats my guess, or loccusts..