Cicadas can drive you mad!
Tzitzikias or Greek Cicada
The cicadas in Greece are very loud. Locally they are called Tzitzikias, which is a very good name for them because that is the sound they make. I was amazed at how loud they could be. Midday in an olive grove was almost deafening.
My wife and children said, “what noise?” They only heard it when I pointed it out to them. Mind you it’s the same with many other visual details that I take for granted that everyone else has seen. I guess some people just aren’t interested in stuff and pass it by.
I suppose their bodies are about 40mm long. As you can see from the photo, they are very well camoulaged and you have to get right up close to them to see them. The noise appears to come from the tip of the tail which vibrates. I’m not sure I could live with that all year round. At midday they are at their loudest. You don’t want to be in the middle of Tzitzikias love festival – trust me!
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we have them in South Carolina too — the noise the other night was unbelievable, but it sure made it feel like summer
South Carolina – to an Englishman that sounds like hot and steamy Cat on a Hot Tin Roof country, moss hanging in the live oaks etc – or have I been reading to much James Lee Burke and Kathy Reichs?
Ooh, they are SO noisy! When Stuart and I were on honeymoon in Croatia, we stayed on this island where the little blighters made the area sound like we were in the middle of a huge electrical plant, or under some massive pylons or something, feeding a city the size of New York. The noise didn’t sound at all natural!
They are very loud. I was so amazed that my family could screen out the sound. I accepted them but still heard them all the time – There are patterns to the sounds too. Sometimes they get in synch and then it gets really loud.