I’ve been hearing the chorus of insects all summer, and I love it. Even though our windows are closed and the AC is running, I can still, as I type this, hear the crickets in stereo through the windows facing east, south and west.
When we were in the mountains of North Carolina in July, the evening insect chorus was quite impressive; we almost couldn’t hear each other when we took a nighttime walk unless we stayed within a few feet of one another. In addition to the usual cricket song, I noticed a sound I didn’t remember hearing lately, but one that was certainly familiar. As the sound engulfed me in the dark, I was brought back to sweaty summer nights of hide-and-go-seek, lightning bugs floating in the dusky evening air, and buzzing street lamps.
When we finished our walk, I searched online until I discovered what I had been hearing: the katydid. It calls, “Katy did, she didn’t it, she did, she didn’t” (make up your mind already). I swore I hadn’t heard that sound in a while, and when we got back home, I started listening closely to the sound of the bugs in the evening, and I can’t pick out the katydid. Are the crickets simply drowning out their song, or are they just not here? I think I might also be hearing cicadas, though apparently they’re mostly vocal during the day. I must get to the bottom of this. Is there an entomologist in the house?
katydid
My Corner of the Village 