The sound of silence

Kia ora

Morena

The sound of silence has fallen over the forests surrounding our lavender fields.

This year's hot, dry summer has contributed to some ear-piercing and decibel-breaking calls from our summer cicadas.

The world's noisiest, cicada, has been clocked at almost 107 decibels, on par with your average rock concert. While Aotearoa/NZ isn’t home to the world’s loudest cicada, we do have over 40 different species.

Female cicadas don’t sing; it’s the male cicadas competing for a mate that grabs our attention. These tiny musicians owe their ability to their tymbal, an organ made up of rib-like structures that, when buckled, makes a loud noise. Like a musical instrument, the cicada’s body is primarily hollow, amplifying this sound.

Adult cicadas only live above ground for about two to four weeks. Before this, they spend most of their lives underground in their nymph stage. Some of New Zealand’s longer-lived species will spend up to three years underground before they emerge in summer to look for a female.

Introduced pests, like the German wasp and the common wasp, threaten native cicadas. While they primarily feed on honeydew, wasps also enjoy snacking on cicadas!

Everything else being equal, we can expect to lose the sound of silence next summer when the cicadas return.

Ka kite

The team @Akaroa Lavender