When heard from a distance, the cicada chorus is a whirring, droning monotone. But if attention is concentrated on an individual insect, several notes can be distinguished. The loudest is represented by the syllables "tsh-ee-EEEE-e-ou." It is sustained 15 to 20 seconds. The middle portion is loud and shrill.
Another note is represented by "AH-O-oo." It has a mournful quality, and terminates abruptly in a lowered pitch. It is usually sustained about 3 seconds, and is repeated at intervals of 2 to 5 seconds.
Other notes consist of prolonged burring, which is the basic sound of the cicada, and soft, short purrs.
To begin a note, the cicada lifts its abdomen (the back part of the body) to a rigid, horizontal position. When the sound ends, the abdomen drops back to the usual, somewhat sagging position.
Damage to Trees
The egg-laying habits of the female cicada, which have been described, can cause severe damage or even destruction to young, transplanted trees in nurseries and orchards, and some damage to older trees.
Egg punctures can cause the twigs and branches of small, immature trees to wilt; and the wounds can give ingress to disease and serve as shelters and feeding locations for scale insects, woolly aphids, and other insects.
Twigs in which many egg pockets are made are often broken or partly broken from the tree. Sonic fruit is lost from bearing trees that have been severely injured.
Seventy or eighty species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants harbor the eggs of the cicada. Those for which the female seems to have a preference are oak, hickory, apple, peach, pear, and grape.
Cicadas cause no visible feeding damage to plants and trees.