LJWorld.com / Sounds of the night: Critters compose summer symphony

Archive for Saturday, July 26, 2008

Thad Allender and Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo. Enlarge photo.

The summer night in Kansas is full of sound, including the buzz of cicadas. The photo was taken about 11 p.m. Thursday in Centennial Park.

By George Diepenbrock

July 26, 2008

Photo by Richard Gwin

A Cicada

'Sounds of the Night'

Listen to some of the sounds of the summer night. Enlarge video

You can't escape the evening musicians.

The Lawrence songs emanate in the twilight from cicadas, and after dark, they come from crickets, katydids and grasshoppers.

"It's just kind of a summer rite. You know it's really summer when you hear them coming on," said Zack Falin, a collections manager for the division of entomology at Kansas University's Biodiversity Research Center.

The sounds of summer you're hearing are male insects trying to attract attention or to say they're healthy and around.

"Just the same reason the male people act silly to attract women," said George Byers, an emeritus KU entomology professor.

Cicadas are just now starting to come out, especially at night, but they will be out in full force in August, he said.

Falin said the crickets, katydids and grasshoppers tend to make the most noise after dark. If people listen long enough, he said, they can distinguish the sounds of each species.

After all, if they sounded the same, it would confuse the females, Falin said.

The insects can be drawn to Lawrence and eastern Kansas in wooded areas and a wetter climate. Falin said the longer, cooler and wet spring here has made for good insect weather.

People often refer to the insects singing, but instead of a choir, they're more like an orchestra.

The cicadas can be the percussionists that pop a membrane - a tymbal - in and out to make their noises, Byers said. The grasshoppers and other insects scrape their legs against their wings, like a violin, called stridulation, he said.

And the orchestra's just tuning up.

"They can be overwhelming. Enjoy them, and after dark what you're hearing are lots and lots of critters. And it's just nice," he said.

Discussion

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26 July 2008
at 9:10 a.m.

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Starlight (Anonymous) says…

There also are a great many tree frogs in the orchestra. I'm surprised they weren't mentioned.
26 July 2008
at 3 p.m.

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tunahelper (Anonymous) says…

too bad the EPA outlawed DDT, then there wouldn't be a problem.
26 July 2008
at 11:33 p.m.

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SandCoAlmanac (Anonymous) says…

I guess I'm getting old. I heard a few crickets and grasshoppers and, yes, some tree frogs interspersed among rapidly accelerating traffic. An audio clip would have been good enough for me. Does anyone know why those sounds are accompanied by a video of trees and power lines?