Either that, or he had a pantload of cicadas. Noisy buggers, aren't they?
Tell me about it. The air conditioner failed, so I had the windows open. The 1950's flying-saucer-movie noise was everywhere, but there was also a periodic EEEeeeowww noise that started out like a mechanical buzz and tapered off like a howling cat. I could not figure out what that was, until one of the damned things took up residence on the screen of my window.
EEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWW.
Oh. So the 'flying saucer' noise is really ten million eeeeooows going on simultaneously. They're ugly, too.