In August 2010 I visited my indiana boyhood home for the first time in
about 20 years. I was stunned by the constant roar of insects. No
exaggeration: cicadas and grasshoppers by day, katydids and crickets by
night--a sonic wall of buzzes and chirps that never stopped. After
living in western Washington for 30 years, I had forgotten what that was
like.


John Stark, Reporter

The Bellingham Herald and TheBellinghamHerald.com
1155 N. State St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Voice: (360) 715-2274
Fax: (360) 756-2826
E-mail: john.stark at bellinghamherald.com
Visit us at www.bellinghamherald.com




________________________________

From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis
Paulson
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 1:29 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Re: Tweeters] "cricket" query


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