Jeff,

As far as I know, the western WA lowlands (and presumably adjacent OR and BC) have the lowest diversity of insects of anywhere in the lower 48. This is thought to be because of our cool and wet summer climate, which is not favorable for insects, as you indicated. There may be historical reasons too, because the very wet and very dry regions in the PNW acted as barriers to organisms that favored dry or wet conditions, respectively, after the last glaciers receded.

I am an entomophile too, and I enjoy every trip to eastern Washington (in season) because of the much greater abundance and diversity of insect life there. Just in the area this week, I delighted in the occasional cricket I heard. Insect abundance is definitely on the wane over there, but there are still quite a few. Also high in the mountains where the abundant wild flowers are still attracting lots of butterfly, fly, and bee/wasp pollinators.

I was sent a katydid photo from the Kitsap Peninsula a year ago, but I have still never seen a katydid in Washington. We seem to have a pretty good species list of insects from the Puget Sound lowlands, but it has always struck me that most of them are rarely seen! Interestingly, dragonflies are among the most conspicuous and notable insects in this area, for which I won't complain.

Dennis

On Sep 9, 2011, at 12:00 PM, tweeters-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 15:12:22 -0700
> From: jeff gibson <gibsondesign at msn.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] "cricket" query
> To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>
> One of my favorite sounds in nature is the chirping of crickets, and other insects. This is maybe a case of 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' because, for a lifelong Puget Lowlander, there are almost none to hear around here. However, as a kid in Seattle back in the late 60's , early 70's, during the very rare heat waves, I would hear a few in my West Seattle neighborhood. A very few. I knew crickets from many Eastern Washington camping trips and when I was a kid my family had a leased lot in Conconully where we vacationed for years. Of course plenty of calling bugs there. In 24 years living in Everett, I haven't heard a peep.
>
> Several years ago in late August , at Wildberry Lake, Mason Co. Wa, where my family has property, my daughter called out "Dad look at this!", and in her hand was a big green Katydid, which turned out to be a female Fork-tailed Bush Katydid (Scudderia furcata) - a full 2 inches long, looking much like a bright green leaf with legs and antennae. I didn't know we had such around here. Later that evening, walking through a nearby clearcut I heard a pleasant but subtle chorus of insect song, that wasn't field crickets. "Katydids" I thought excitedly. However, checking the Internet (several years after the fact) I think these were probably a type of Short-horned Grasshopper (marsh meadow grass grasshopper). Which was cool also. During the day the area has the loud keening of Cicada's going on hot days - the swelling and diminishing sound of which gives the illusion of the bug flying around, but really it's just a false "doppler effect"- the cicadas are calling from a perch.
>
> Another few years ago I heard field crickets on San Juan Island, in early October - a small chorus in the limestone quarry at Roche Harbor, on a sunny afternoon. It made sense because this is a dryer area than most of the Puget Lowlands and the rocky south-facing slopes heat up. It seems that heat and dryness are somewhat of a prerequisite for crickets and other singing bugs around here.
>
> So my query is - do any of you tweeters out there hear any "crickets" (or any other calling bugs) in the Puget Lowlands? The fields of the Fill, or Discovery Park, maybe? Or wherever. I would imagine more to be heard farther south of the sound, the Oak Prairies, ect. It's about as hot as it's gonna get this year, so now would be the time. If you want to respond offsite, I'll compile the results of my non scientific query and report on tweeters.
>
> At the end of September I will be briefly traveling to the "Great Humid East", (Wisconsin) where "singing bugs" are in amazing abundance. Crickets, Katydids, ect all night. On my few trips back there I felt like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't sleep, not because of the 'noise', but because I just wanted to listen all night. A few years ago on an August trip to southern Ontario - alive with bugsound day and night - I told folks there that where I'm from, the night is almost completely quiet. They didn't believe me.
>
> For online sound recordings and info check out www.musicofnature.org/songsofinsects/
>
> Jeff Gibson, Everett Wa

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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