Cicada

Today's the day .................. to join the chorus

We've heard a lot from this little chap since we've been in New Zealand - and it must be a chap - because it's only the male that makes a noise.

The Chorus Cicada is the most widespread of the 40 species of cicada endemic to New Zealand - and the continuous 'zeeep-zeeep-zeeep' sound that they make is almost deafening sometimes. It took us a while to work out what was making all the noise because they are quite hard to spot against the bark of a tree. The easiest way to find them is to watch them as they fly - and then see where they land.

Apparently males die soon after mating. So it's a short life - but presumably happy and certainly very noisy ...................!