Cicada in Provence, France
Cicada should be placed on the flag of Provence because it is a true symbol of the beautiful, sunny and hot Provencal summer.
These cicadas that we meet will be however mostly seen almost at any souvenir shop. Their images, made from a variety of materials using multiple artistic techniques are often embellished and additionally colored. Real cicadas are not very nice - they are gray and hard to spot. Despite the fact that the cicadas are quite large insects (they have about 2-3 cm in length), they are so similar to the bark of the tree that they tend to be a fragment of it. This camouflage is the foundation of their defense against other animals.
The cicadas sing when the air temperature reaches a sufficient level (around 22-24°C); their singing continues until sunset, but we happened to hear some cicadas, which suddenly "woke up" a few minutes after sunset and issued their characteristic noises for a while.
Male cicadas produce sounds. They have a very fast-acting muscles and sort of an amplifier, so they "generate" the sound with a level exceeding 100 dB. Its power is comparable to the sound of a motorcycle without a muffler or sound of working chainsaw! What's worse, there are plenty singing cicadas, so the locals do not like their piercing sounds (as opposed to tourists, for whom they are a great attraction). However, there is no wonder. Everyone would get tired of listening to this singing from May to October.
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