At least two insects are audible in the sound clip linked above, recorded just ten minutes ago in my yard in Urbana, Illinois. What are they?
The first correct species name for each insect is worth 5 Myrmecos Points (TM).
As usual, the cumulative points winner for the month of August will win their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here at Myrmecos on a safe-for-work topic of their choosing.
All time toughest MNM
Fortunately, there are some excellent online resources for insect songs in North America.
For some of us, they’re all equally tough.
I’d be curious to know where the insect song resources are. I’d love to be able to identify my night-life.
The Songs of Insects site is one good place to start. I actually bought the book/CD set a while back, which is what we mainly use, but it looks like the online information is very good.
One sounds like the dog day cicada (Tibicen canicularis).
on second listen, perhaps T. pruinosa.
I agree about the cicada. The other insect sounds like a jumping bush cricket
(Orocharis saltator).
Where’s Trager? This is right up his alley.
Sounds like the T. pruinosa because of the repetition.
Here’s two great song sites:
http://www.musicofnature.com/songsofinsects/iframes/specieslist.html
http://www.insectsingers.com/100th_meridian_cicadas/index.html
I would agree on Tibicen pruinosa
I miss those midwest summer sounds, especially the katydids at night!
I love the night sounds here, Chris. I spent a week in Flagstaff recently and was aghast that I heard no crickets – not one!
Also none in Paris FR, a few years ago, but it’s way more surprising in Flagstaff!
I was shocked the first time I was camping out here in CA, you can hear a pin drop from a mile away!
I’ll just have to go along on the Tibicen species. And Ted beat me to it on the cricket. O. saltator has a quite characteristic, “piping” aspect to its chirp. It is arboreal, often singing from the edge of a leaf, using it as a sounding board for its song. Other individuals may use a bark furrow for this purpose.
See my pictures: http://bugguide.net/node/view/333316
My knowledge does not extend to the species-level, but it’s clearly frogs and a cricket.
Oh, you said two insects. Apparently, my knowledge doesn’t even extend to the phylum level.
This post makes me feel really sad. Not an insectan sound can be heard in the Alberta summer nights, except the buzz of the mosquito and the slap response from one of their hosts. During the day we do have cicadas, but they have the most innocuous chirps. Far cry from a summer day in Queensland where ear plugs often come in handy and a summer night when all manner of exotic sounds can be heard.
Funny that. I was just having a conversation with my Aussie wife about the Queensland cicadas. They even put our midwestern ones to shame.
I don’t get this cricket dearth. Whenever I have visited California, I have heard various gryllids and tettigoniids, and I remember a variety of crickets and meadow katydids during childhood summers in Taos NM including the elegant Oecanthus, and I even remember encountering Oecanthus pellucens in a Paris park as a 16 year old on a family trip. Where have these gone? Is this a Rachel-Carsonian silent summer?
Pingback: Answer to the Monday Night Mystery – MYRMECOS - Insect Photography - Insect Pictures