Cicadas

Here in the steamy Midwest, we have cicadas.  Growing up in the West, I never knew what cicadas were so I'm posting this for the benefit of those who have not had the pleasure of their comforting hum.  It's more of a loud chatter, really.  However you describe it, I like it.  It's like constant background noise that I usually don't even notice, but when I pay attention I realize they are really loud.

Fortunately, the cicadas stay in the trees most of the time.  They are nice bugs, relatively speaking, but they are huge which somehow makes them seem not so nice.  The cicadas I've seen are a good 2" long at least.  Here is a picture of the empty "shell" of a cicada.  This is what they leave behind after they morph into their adult state (or whatever you call it).  I found this shell on the side of our house and it is about as long as a quarter:

And here's a picture of a live cicada:

 

Cool bugs!