WildWed91 - Cicada Drone

Singing cicadas always start the Australian summer for me!  Their sound can be deafening, but, you very rarely see them, as they spend most of their life underground. 

Evidently when the nymph reaches maturity it digs its way to the surface and attaches itself to a trunk or bushy plant  (in this case my rosemary bush) and then sheds its skin for the last time.  

After a short period of rest and eating, the males start singing to attract a mate.  Hence the deafening drone in the evening.... Cicadas are not particularly pretty, but I find the process fascinating, this is an image of one of their exoskeletons, to come to think of it, I probably should have taken the shot from a different angle, particularly to show their strong front legs, maybe another time!