I think these are pretty charming and mellow insects,

When you get thousands, or millions or billions of them together in one spot, it is a fantastic, deafening chorus.

They are not very agile fliers, and they don't seem to be very skilled at avoiding predators.

Even as dead bugs they are still influencing these forest ecosystems, ... Science.

They are not very agile fliers, and they don't seem to be very skilled at avoiding predators,

These cicadas are everywhere, so everyone knows them. All the people on the street know your bug, and they often know the different species. The people I meet know a lot about the insects, and they often ask me really challenging questions about cicada biology.