Sounds of the night

Screech Owl paid us a visit last night; I could hear it calling outside our bedroom in the middle of the night -- the downward slurring sound (like a horse neighing) and the low trills). Earlier in the evening, not long after sunset, there was an early Katydid that made a few calls to remind us that August is almost here.

Sounds of the night! I have been looking at and listening to a "Guide to Night-singing Insects of the Northeast" by one John Himmelman. This is a field guide (with illustrations) that includes recordings of some 69 species; a dozen or so occur only from New Jersey south but many of the others are potential LI residents. The pictures and descriptions of these insects are quite detailed but not very helpful since you hardly ever actually see any of these beasts but the recordings are very helpful. The two easy ones are the chirping Fall Field Cricket (there is also a Spring Field Cricket with the same 'chirp') and the Common True Katydid. But there are a lot of new ones to be discovered. There is, for instance, a late-afternoon call that goes on into the darkness and is very similar to the Dog-day Cicada but lacks the crescendo and decrescendo that introduces and finishes off the cicada song. I always thought it was some kind of variant of the cicado but now I think it might be the Robust Conehead Katydid. There is also a high-pitched whine that I hear both day and night that is likely to be the Carolina Ground Cricket. I believe, although I am not certain, that the ground crickets sing both day and night and, although Himmelman doesn't say so, that ought to be true of the Carolina Ground Cricket as well as its congeners.

I'm good at identifying bird songs but the insect songs are a whole new new set of challenges, a whole new aural world to conquer -- or, at least, to get to know!

Eric Salzman