Until the end of July, the summer night sounds in New England are fairly quiet besides some wood thrush, veery, and other bird song. And then, one night, the symphonic soundtrack suddenly begins: the crickets and katydids are out in full force, singing to attract mates. The late summer symphony peaks in August but will continue to serenade you to sleep until the first hard frost.
These insects are not singing from their mouths. Instead, they rub the sharp edge of one outer wing against the ridged edge of the other outer wing. You can imitate the process by running your fingers along the tines of a comb. To practice hearing like a katydid or cricket, though, you would need to have ears in your legs!
Want to figure out what specific insects you’re hearing? If it’s an evenly paced, mechanical raspy sound from the treetops, it’s probably a common true katydid. Singing “Ka-ty-did; she did-n’t; she did”
If you can hum along to it, it’s probably a cricket. Clear, loud trill chirps coming from the grass could be a ground cricket.
Many tree crickets sing a near continuous high-pitched trill. Evenly-spaced chirps from understory plants of woodland edges could be a snowy tree cricket, also known as the thermometer cricket. If you count the number of chirps in a 14-second period, then add 40, you’ll get the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Try measuring the temperature with the song of thermometer crickets and with an actual thermometer, and see how they compare!
