As soon as daytime air temperatures here in Tucson average over 90 °F (32.2 °C) in late May or early June, numerous cicadas emerge, and the males begin "singing" for mates. Their songs are a continuous, high-pitched, droning buzz that can be quite annoying and so loud that it makes your ears ring.

Cicadas are a prized food item for birds, but these large insects with their loud songs can be difficult for birds to find because cicadas are ventriloquists, and thus are able to project their voices so that their songs sound like they are coming from somewhere other than their actual location. Luckily for the singing male cicadas, the female cicadas seem to have no trouble locating them.