Tweeters and Cricketeer's

Thanks to all who responded to my "cricket" query to tweeters on 9/8/11. I put the word cricket in quotes as I didn't want to exclude any other interesting calling bugs you may have heard. To you insect appreciators out there, ( 'Entomophiles' as Dennis Paulson put it ) you're not alone. I received more responses to the query than any other previous tweeters post, even surpassing people who enjoy Beer Apps.

The responses fell into three categories;
1. local bugs heard, and where.
2. waxing reminiscent about amazing bug choruses in other places.
3. other interesting cricket stories.

As I suspected, more cricket and other calling bugs were heard in more Southerly Puget Sound locations, where presumably it's a tad bit warmer. I'll list reports roughly North to South.

- Rob reported hearing crickets this August in fields at Bob Hierman Park just south of Snohomish, up here in soggy Snohomish Co.
- Linda reported hearing crickets in Kenmore.

- Jim heard what he thought might be crickets (or Katydids) calling in the Fauntleroy area of West Seattle. That's where I heard a few
field crickets too, back 40+ years ago.
- Susan reported hearing crickets where she's at down in the 'Duwamish Industrial Corridor'.

- Kathryn heard crickets on Vashon, and saw small Katydids there.
- Melissa in Gig Harbor hears them bugs- cricket in dry grass and cicadas in the Dougfirs.
- Amy reported hearing crickets in Renton at several locales
- Ted reported a gentle cricket chorus between Puyallup and Graham - a bit late this cool year.
- Carol reported calling crickets at Nisqually NWR and also at home near Kent.
-Mary reported from Belfair/Tahuya about hearing crickets every year there, and also buzzing Katydids up in the trees.
- Teresa hears crickets near Olympia.
- Leah was pleased to hear a cricket along the tracks in Centralia.

All of these Puget Lowland reports pretty much correlated with our warmest weather, such as it is.

Another interesting bug sound note has to do with that of our local "Mourning Cloak', or Carolina Grasshoppers. Those are the big grasshoppers that have showy yellow-bordered black wings that you may see along roadsides and gravel areas as they fly up, then resettle nearly invisible on the ground. They can produce a 'crackly' sound as they fly, described as 'startling' by Melissa in Gig Harbor, and like the sound that a playing card makes flapping through your bicycle spokes (nice childhood memories for me) as Mary from Belfair noted. A sound produced when the bugs are 'in the mood' for mating apparently. While I've heard this many times with eastern washington grasshoppers, I've never heard it once in 24 years in Snohomish Co, despite (especially last year) an abundance of the critters here. Interesting.

Former 'Easterners' reminisced about the Great Insect Chorus of the Humid East. Barry about New England, John about Indiana, and several folks about Wisconsin memories, ect. Bill noted living in Chicago during a 17 year cicada 'outbreak'. During the last big cicada event a few years ago my sister-in-law called from outside Chicago and held up the phone - the cicadas clearly heard in the background. She was in her house - with the door and windows closed.

A few others had fun stories of Cricket experiences indoors. Ron and Carol reported about crickets escaping their fate as tropical fish food and calling loudly inside their house. And Carol remembered crickets from days in Utah, where they ate her towels. My sister is driven nuts by crickets hiding in her SW New Mexico home and calling loudly all night.

I just got back from a week in Wisconsin. Although the weather around Milwaukee was Seattlesque at first (cool and wet) there were still crickets calling, both field crickets (such as we have) and also some other type with a longer sustained trill. It was pretty quiet though. On a trip to the Door Peninsula a few days later, with temps in the low 60's there was a pretty good daytime chorus of crickets in the warm sand dunes along Lake Michigan. And finally, on our last and warmest night, the big 'True Katydids" were calling (well after dark) from the Oak and Hickory woods of the Milwaukee burbs, sounding somewhat like frogs - slowed down by cool weather. I was surprised at how much traffic noise was in the area (next to a freeway) since on a previous visit in hot humid August a few years ago the traffic could barely be heard over the vast, loud insect chorus.

Again thanks to all who responded, and apologies to any reports I missed. Lots of great sound and bug stories!

Jeff Gibson
Everett Wa