Design

I had almost 40 people for a full moon hike this evening. A big group, to be sure, largely family groups, but also couples and singles. There were also many more young children than usual, perhaps because of Labor Day weekend. One of the things I love about summer and early fall evenings are the sounds -- ground crickets, tree crickets, katydids, owls, tree frogs, etc. And, with digital technology, it's increasingly easy to learn more and share the sounds (and sights) of nature day and night. I used my iPod nano for the first time, attached to a small portable speaker, to play (the quite different) calls of crickets, katydids, and cicadas, with the backdrop of the real-time nocturnal symphony. It had helped me distinguish between their sounds and songs, so I thought it would be helpful for a group program (as long as the tech part wasn't too distracting). It worked well, and hopefully encouraged participants to listen more closely on more peaceful night-time excursions. I...

Southern evenings, especially in the transition from day to dusk to night, are filled with sound; cicadas and day-singing crickets give way to evening-singing crickets, katydids, and tree frogs. I love the nocturnal symphony . Distinguishing between them takes some study . I've been working on it for awhile (although perhaps not diligently enough!) Lang Elliot's The Sounds of Insects is loaded on the main iPod, but I need to put it on the small one that I take walking or when I'm in the garden. It's not the first thing I'd think about listening to, though, I'm afraid. There's definitely an instructive aspect to trying to listen to sequences of insect calls that isn't that appealing, but maybe it's just a new language to learn. I just had to look up whether it was cicadas or katydids that called during the day (they have similar loud raspy calls), but I'm beginning to be able to hear the differences between tree frogs and the different specie...

I never tire of listening to the songs of crickets, cicadas, and katydids. In the southern U.S., summer evenings are alive with sound, changing as evening progresses. I don't have any great depth of knowledge about the biology of these insects, only what I've had fun learning by studying up for night hikes. But distinguishing between the distinctive calls of different species is fascinating, and the ability of audio files and internet access to easily bring these songs to my study (and transfer CD files to my iPod) are such a wonderful way to appreciate the evening chorus. The pleasant times of the day now are before 10 am and after 7:30 pm in our heat; fortitude and acclimation is required for working outdoors in between those times. But, the humidity brings exceptional color to our sunsets, and it was lovely being outdoors at 8:30 this evening. And, I'm looking forward to receiving the book and digital files that go with the Songs of Insects website that I found looking...