Many trees in central Kentucky are alive with the sound of insects. It's the call of the annual cicada.
The sound of cicadas is hard to miss when outside in many neighborhoods. University of Kentucky Entomologist Lee Townsend says male cicadas are sounding off and those insect numbers appear to be up this summer. "It is a mating call and they can get quite loud and they'll start to chorus together and kind of develop a rhythm in their song," said Townsend.
Townsend says the insect's sound comes from quickly shaking its body. "They have a method of making noise that's like taking a thin piece of sheet metal and rattling it back and forth,” said Townsend. “It's more a real thin area on the body that they vibrate with a muscle."
While the annual cicada has made its presence known in the bluegrass, western Kentucky residents have experienced a brood of periodic cicadas. Townsend says that brood only comes out to make noise every 13 years.?
