SEPTEMBER 2013


Backyard Naturalist by Wil Hershberger


Once again it is late summer.


From now until the first few hard frosts of fall, woodlands, fields, roadsides, and lawns will be full of fiddling of the finest order. These are the singing


insects—the crickets


and katydids. Most of us are familiar with the field cricket; their rhythmic chirping is the quintessential song of this clan. However, in addition to the field crickets there is a host of other singers whose identity goes un-noticed


by most


listeners. With a little practice and careful listening you can find and enjoy many of these special singers of summer. A few species of crickets and


katydids start to sing in late May. The Spring Field Cricket is the first. Its chirping, like that of the Fall Field Cricket, is familiar to us, probably because the later species often finds its way into our homes when the weather begins to cool in the fall. They are most apt to find a cozy spot under the refrigerator and will sing from there most of the night, “Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp.” With the arrival of warmer weather,


the rest of this


diminutive orchestra matures to sing. The chorus is in full swing in August and September. Tiny


ground crickets are


first heard from lawns and roadsides—their tiny voices often overlooked. Listening carefully in these habitats will reveal many singing individuals of Striped Carolina


Ground newly Cricket,


Allard’s Ground Cricket, and the


Ground Cricket, arrived


Cuban


Ground Cricket. Perhaps Helen Keller said it best in the first version of her poem, “Further in Summer than the Birds:”


Pathetic from the Grass A Minor Nation celebrates


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Soon after the appearance of the ground crickets come the katydids, in all shapes and sizes. Most prominent are the coneheads, whose loud songs can be heard from several yards away. The Nebraska Conehead is perhaps the most numerous in our area. Its song, heard at night, buzzing


is a loud repetitive heard from weedy


fields and roadsides. Another is the Robust Conehead, who sings


an abrasive especially buzz continuously,


and again at night. He is often heard from roadsides as you are driving by his singing perch, “BZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz.” Other katydids are also at


singing woodlands and ka-ty-did, night, shrubs. ty-did.” The Rattler


from The


Common True Katydid sings from the treetops, did,


ka-ty-did,


“Ka-ty- ka-


Round-


winged Katydid and the Clicker Round-winged Katydid can be found singing from the shrubby understory at the wood’s edge.


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loud, The Season of Singing Insects It’s unobtrusive Mass…


. . . But Witness for Her Land And Witness for Her Sea The Cricket is Her utmost Of Elegy, to Me


Oblong-wing Katydids and


Tree-top Bush Katydids are also found here. In weedy fields you can find Texas Bush Katydids, shieldback katydids, as well as numerous tree crickets. You can bring this chorusing to you by gardening for these insects. Leaving an area un- mowed or planting


native


flowers and shrubs will provide a most welcome haven for these singers of summer. The larger the patch, the more singers you may attract. Leave the area undisturbed and mow only in early to mid-March when all is quiet. These insects lay their eggs in the soil or in the stems of grasses and wildflowers. For most, the eggs over winter and hatch with the warming weather of spring, maturing into


adults in mid-summer.


Mowing once the eggs hatch will destroy most, if not all, of the young. Native coneflowers, sunflowers, mints, and brambles are great plants for attracting these insects to your yard.


You can explore the songs of these crickets and katydids here:


www.songsofinsects.com/ iframes/specieslist.html.


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