Took my first walk where I could hear cicadas today. I walked west on Gallatin St, and while I saw a number of dead cicadas under trees, I did not hear them until I crossed Georgia Ave. As soon as I got across, I could clearly hear that background buzz. Not so loud, I will need to search out denser population areas. But this is another case where Georgia Ave seems to be some sort of dividing line in DC.

One of the first things that occurred to me when I realized I was hearing cicadas was that sound engineers from Japanese monster movies definitely used cicada or similar species sounds for things like monster death rays from the eyes or mouth. I kept looking for Mothra.

I walked to the end of Colorado Ave, which dead ends at Rock Creek Park. What is interesting is that there really aren’t cicadas in Rock Creek Park, I could hear them clearly south Colorado Ave in the residential neighborhood, but not really in the park. I think this must be the result of the Civil War. Cicadas need trees, and Rock Creek Park was completely denuded of trees during the Civil War. Otherwise it would have provided a well covered passage to downtown DC for the rebel scum. The cicada years were 1851 and 1868. I don’t know how long the park remained treeless, but the 1868 emergence certainly must have ruined cicadas in the park if there were any there. Here we are 150 years later and still few cicadas. I wonder how long it will take for them to repopulate.