Cricket Radio
Tuning In the
Night-Singing Insects
Harvard University Press
John Himmelman
Most of the recordings were captured in their natural setting. I tried to find the insects calling in different backgrounds - thunderstorm, waves crashing, train passing. You can listen with the author's narration of the species calling, or without narration. They were all recorded on a Marantz PMD66 digital recorder and a RODE NGt2 shotgun microphone.
This is what you're hearing in order of appearance:
1 – Spring Field Cricket in June – from the edge of my vegetable garden in Killingworth, CT
2 – Spring Field Cricket courtship call in June – from my yard in Killingworth, CT
3 – Short-winged Meadow Katydid in June – calling from a CT fen
4 – Carolina Ground Crickets in June - calling in my lawn in Killingworth, CT
5 – Fall Field Crickets on the beach in July – Misquomicut Beach, Rhode Island
6 – Fall Field Crickets in August – They are joined by an Eastern Chipmunk and Blue Jay at the Platt Nature Center, Killingworth, CT
7 – Tinkling Ground Crickets with fall field crickets in August – from my yard in Killingworth, CT
8 – Allards Ground Crickets along train tracks in August – Wallingford, CT
9 – Northern Bush Katydid in August – calling from the shrubs in my CT yard
10 – Fork-tailed Bush Katydid with Carolina Ground Crickets in August – Calling from my CT yard
11 – Southern Ground Cricket in August – from a lawn in Smyrna, Delaware
12 – Curve-tailed Bush Katydid in August – calling from the highbush blueberries at the Platt Nature Center in
Killingworth, CT
13 – Striped Ground Cricket in August – from a CT fen.
14 – Striped Ground Cricket courtship call in August – from a CT fen
15 – Roesel’s Katydid in August – from my yard in Killingworth, CT
16 – Four-spotted Tree Cricket in August – from Bombay Hook in Delaware
17 – Say’s Trig in August – trilling in marsh grasses in East Hampton, CT
18 – Beach Trig in August – from a large marsh on Tybee Island, Georgia
19 – Fast-calling Tree Cricket in August – The sustained trill is from the roadside grass on Tybee Island, Georgia.
The broken trill was from a captive individual in my car - I later learned it's their dusk call.
20 – Broad-tipped Conehead in August – calling from a tree on Tybee Island, Georgia
21 – Handsome Meadow Katydid with Japanese Bush Cricket and Narrow-winged Tree Cricket in August – The
katydid calls twice in this recording, which was made in Skidaway Island State Park in Georgia.
22 – Broad-winged Tree Cricket in August – calling from a raspberry bush in Jefferson County, West Virginia
23 – Eastern Swordbearer in August – recorded in a freshwater marsh in Jefferson County, West Virginia
24 – Red-headed Meadow Katydid in August – Calling from tall grasses in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia
25 – Two-spotted Tree Cricket in August – Calling from a lawn in Smyrna, Deleware
26 – Common True Katydids in an August thunderstorm – They are joined in my Connecticut yard by Tinkling
Ground Crickets and Oblong-winged Katydids.
27 – Common True Katydids in August – recorded in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Listen for the extra
notes present in the southern song.
28 – Slosson’s Scaly Crickets in August – calling from a tree in Skidaway Island National Park in Georgia
29 – Forest Scaly Cricket in August – a studio recording from an individual captured in Ocean County, NJ
30 – Davis’s Conehead in August – recorded in a freshwater marsh in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp
31 – Greater Angle-wing in August – from Southbury, CT. Listen for the Eastern Swordbearer and Narrow-winged
Tree Crickets in the background.
32 – Lesser Angle-wing in August – from Ocean County, NJ. Jumping Bush Crickets and Long-beaked Coneheads
are calling on this track as well.
33 – Nebraska Conehead in August – calling from the tall grass along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah
Mountains in Virginia
34 – Black-horned Tree Cricket in August – trilling from a goldenrod in a CT fen
35 – Common Meadow Katydid in August – calling from the sedges in a CT fen
36 – Narrow-winged Tree Cricket in September – stationed on a maple in Chester, CT
37 – Jumping Tree Crickets in September – recorded at the mouth of the CT River in Old Saybrook CT
38 – Narrow-winged Tree Crickets and Jumping Bush Crickets in September – recorded at the mouth of the CT
River in Old Saybrook, CT
39 – Northern Mole Cricket in September – calling, with a Wood Thrush, from a pond’s edge in Madison, CT
40 – House Crickets in September – a studio recording of individuals purchased in a CT pet store
41 – Long-beaked Coneheads in September – from a CT fen, with Common True Katydids in the background
42 – Japanese Burrowing Cricket in September – from under my car outside in a Maryland forest
43 – Japanese Burrowing Cricket courtship call in September – a studio recording of a captured male from
Maryland
44 – Columbian Trigs in September – chorusing from the treetops in a Savannah, Georgia neighborhood
45 – Sphagnum Ground Crickets in September – from a bog in Norfolk, CT
46 – Round-tipped Conehead in September – recorded from a meadow in Southbury, CT
47 – Rattler Round-winged katydid in September – from the Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia
48 – Oblong-winged Katydid in September – from the edges of a fairground field in Delaware
49 – Pine Tree Crickets on a windy September afternoon – recorded in Wellfleet, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A
Red-breasted Nuthatch calls in the background.
50 – Salt Marsh Meadow Katydid in September – from a salt marsh in Guilford, CT
51 – Seaside Meadow Katydids in September – from a salt marsh in Guilford, CT
52 – Southeastern Field Cricket in September – from a fairground field in Delaware. It is joined by Southern Ground
Cricket and Narrow-winged Tree Crickets.
53 – Black-legged meadow katydid in September – buzzing on the sedges of Hurd State Park in East Hampton, CT
54 – Davis’s Tree Crickets in September – calling along a trail in Killingworth, CT
55 – Sand Field Cricket in September – recorded at Saybrook Point, in Old Saybrook, CT
56 – Robust Conehead in September – from a marsh in Jefferson County, West Virginia
57 – Woodland Meadow Katydid in October – from a meadow in Killingworth, CT
58 – Snowy Tree Cricket in October – chirping away in the town of Wellfleet, in Cape Cod, Mass
59 – Common True Katydid slowing down in late October – Calling from my now chilly CT yard
60 – Jumping Bush Cricket slowing down in late October – recorded in my CT yard
61 – Carolina Ground Cricket in November – The last cricket calling in my CT yard.