After night came, a large bug, nearly the size of a bird, began banging into a floodlight near the front door. It soon came to rest on the front door screen. We peered at it from the wrong side. It was weird looking, longer and broader than an ordinary cicada. We wanted to go outdoors without letting it inside, so my husband tapped the screen with a magazine, and it bopped away.
The next day, it was lying still on its back on the patio. It was whitish, translucent. Bob thought it was dead, but when he turned the bug right side up, it flew off, its wings buzzing and making an ungodly noise. Despite its ghostly appearance, it was fully alive.
It’s possible to pinpoint the time of year by the noise. For a few weeks, we’ve been hearing tree frogs at night, lately joined by the cicadas’ swelling sound. They eat their way out of their underground dens, and, when they finally come into the light, they need to rest. They have been asleep for many years.
The bug on the screen was unusual. It sounded different from how cicadas normally sound in these parts. Was it a giant cicada (chichara grande), perhaps, one that flew here from Texas? Or is the species emerging in 2020 one unlike any we have ever seen?
harley says
I bet it caught a strong wind and was blown from far away. That is a picture of one big insect !