...well I got well and truly caught up and blinded by the immense beauty of it all.... therefore, I am late with this blog update. It was perhaps unrealistic to think that I would have any brain or ear space left at the end of each day to rely a decent account of all that happened. I have now returned after a whole week of listening, talking, listening, playing, walking, listening and recording with some of the most magnificent creatures on our planet: the 13 and 17 year periodic cicada. I will never forget this immense experience. 

Day 1: Upon arriving into Springfield, Illinois, which was reported to possibly be the only site where both the 17 year and 13 year periodic cicada might overlap, I logged on to the wonderful cicada safari site to see if I could manage a quick listen before sunset. ( A cicada sound day begins around 9:30/10am and ends around 8pm.) It was 6:30pm and I just couldn't wait until morning to get a taste! I headed for Bridgeview Park and was greeted by a swarmed warm chorus that engulfed me. The sonic bliss felt in that opening moment is too great to reduce to my poor use of words, but I can tell you that I was close to happy 🥲 ...
I had been waiting to experience this for many years and was almost at the point of imagining that the experience might fall short under the weight of anticipation.....but rest assured this beautiful body of insects lived up and beyond what I imagined, as I moved gradually between the sonic clouds of coloured hiss and ticks and rested my ears somewhere in the middle of their wall of sonic communication.