Music of summer: katydid's

Nice music, that, Glenda.

Lightning bugs were out in force as I left the garden just before dark.

Probably in the mid to high 70s, here.

And people in a nearby community were shooting off fireworks, to celebrate Canada's 152nd birthday.

ole joyful

Not even seen one yet this year. Which is very late not for them to be appearing. I just saw my first baby grasshopper today.

Katydid chirps all night and the bluebirds take over at 5 AM. :)

Haven't heard that sweet music here yet. Have heard tree frogs a couple times, but the 17 year locusts have drowned out everything for the last month. They are about done now. There was a lightning bug in the house last evening. DH gently took it outside.

I was shocked to see a bright pink katydid last summer. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I did look it up...it is some kind of freak of nature. Sometimes they are bright orange. This one was Pepto Bismol pink. Amy would have loved it. :)

I don't like those things generally. They tend to fly in my face or land on me. I like that my "stepchildren" ie the little feral cats around my office eat them by the dozens. But I most definitely would have reprieved that pink one marilyn! What a lucky little pest to be so beautiful!

I don't find the call of katydids particularly pleasant, more of a repetitive raspy sound. I'd never call it a chirp. Luckily, they aren't as common as the much more musical toads and frogs, and the very chirpy crickets.

My night sounds are crickets, toads, and frogs, katydids now and then, and mockingbirds in the early spring.

Katydids are so pretty that we want them to have a lovely call.....but they don't. :-( Marilyn, I remember when you posted about your pink katydid last year. Amazing.

Katydids (no apostrophe needed)? We don't have them, our area doesn't have as many bugs and creatures as much of the country does. Thankfully so, I don't care for them.

Misspelled chirp :o)

No katydids in my neck of the woods either. But I do remember them from summer visits to my inlaws in MO. I found the noise kind of irritating....it is extremely quiet at night where I live. Now and again you hear an owl or the local coyote pack yipping but that's about it. Even the tree frogs are quite at night, making most of their noise early morning or at dusk.

But I do remember with great fondness and wonder the first time I saw lightning bugs/fireflies! We don't have them here either but I was entranced to see them dancing around in the darkness. Magical!!

I don't know if it is katydids or locusts that I hear, but Glenda, I like that sound too.

You'all must live in areas that have fewer Katydids. When I lived in the south they were so loud it was deafening. Can't stand those things flying out of the bushes screaming.

Where I live now has tons of tree frogs, their sound doesn't bother me.

In early spring we hear the spring peepers singing (frogs) and now I am hearing the music of the June bugs hitting the screens!

Miss Glenda, you make me smile with every post you make. Wanted to thank you. I needed a good smile today.

Grew up going to summer camp and the summer music of the katydids brings back the wonderful memories. Thanks to those for positive comments :o)

The rate of katydid chirps is related to its temperature as shown below. [Formula taken from hiltonpond.org]. This an indicator only and not as accurate as an instrument, however, its a fun thing to observe. Other forms of this equation can be derived that may be more simple to apply. For instance, instead of counting chirps for a full minute, count for 15 sec and then multiply by 4 to get chirps per minute. I think this formula gives temperature in deg F. Of course, it does not work if it gets too chilly and the katydids stop chirping.

As in
crickets, calling rates among katydids varies with the temperature, so
you can always get an accurate weather report by solving the equation
T=(C+161)/3, with T being the Temperature and C the number of calls per
minute. This won't work in winter, of course, since all the stridulating
katydids will be dead, so unless you're a classroom teacher helping
students with math skills, maybe it would just be easier to buy a new
thermometer.
All photos & text © Hilton Pond Center

Perhaps not related but I am sitting here in my quiet office and there is a #&$*-ing cricket in here that wont shut up and I CAN'T FIND IT TO GET RID OF IT! AAAGH! I swear it has been chirping since I got here.....SIX HOURS AGO!!!!

Correction: SEVEN. SEVEN HOURS AGO. WAAAAHHHHHHH!

When I looked at the title of this post I thought the music of summer is The Beach Boys...

Good riddance! Thankful for katydids.

Just in case nobody noticed, along with the musical sounds of katydids, we have been invaded by the sight of and destruction of Japanese beetles! Those &^$#&* have arrived. I hate them so much that I will squish them with my fingers if no other option is at hand!

Do you have cicadas? cicada noise link

We had katydids. Never knew they made a sound....

So that's what's chirping there, my son in law in Birmingham said its almost deafening. I remember some kind of bug in Arkansas that was so loud around dusk that you almost felt like you were vibrating.

Katrina - that's Katydids - so loud they make your ears hurt. Unfortunately I now live in an area that has the every 13 year cicadas, I don't remember if they made any noise but they ate all the fruit trees in the area. Little monsters ruined the crops for most of the farmers here.