The Prodigal Katydid

 

The Prodigal Katydid 

 

 

It is always a joy to have a Black-legged Meadow Katydid in the house as autumn threatens to become winter. They are colorful, and their rhythmic songs are a delight.  On occasion, we’ve had two at the same time and they sing back and forth as if still proclaiming their desirability.   

This is the Black-legged Meadow Katydid song: 

Lisa Rainsong · Black-legged Meadow Katydid

 

 Of course, since all our indoor crickets and katydids are senior citizens, they never last as long as we would like (which would ideally be till next summer). They adapt very well to a large mesh cage with the same kinds of plants in which they originally lived. Many of the “Crickets and Katydids in the House” photos I use in this blog were taken of the actual singers in their cages. I cautiously unzip the top of their cages each day when I give them fresh food and hydration cubes, and I occasionally take a couple of quick photos of them. They seldom pay any attention to my camera. 

 

Although our crickets and katydids typically show little interest in going on an adventure outside their cages, we had one significant exception this year. 

 

 

As I was taking this photo of the Black-legged Meadow Katydid, he suddenly leaped right out of his cage, landing on the dining room table. I tried to catch him, but with one more jump he was on the crossbeams under the table. I almost had him in my hand, but he effortlessly escaped...and vanished. 

I was so distressed! I immediately searched on my hands and knees all over the dining room. How far could he have gotten in just a matter of seconds? If he would just sing about his great triumph, I could track him down by sound – but no. Even Nikos (who was being the Good Cat) had no idea where the Black-legged might be. I urgently called for Wendy, who was already asleep. She was willing to immediately jump out of bed and join the search. 

I had no idea how far he might have gone. I gradually expanded my search area and decided to try to lure him back with sound. I set my laptop up on the dining room table and had it play my recordings of Black-legged Meadow Katydid songs, hoping he might decide to investigate the challenger.  

He did not respond.  

 

If something like this is going to happen, it is always late at night. This was no exception. I kept my vigil at the dining room table, listening for any fragment of song. When I finally went to bed, I felt like an irresponsible failure. 

I searched again the next day and evening. Not a single little series of “tic-tic-tics...” Nikos showed no indication of a possible katydid on the loose. 

 

Wendy and I continued to walk very carefully on the outside chance he was still traveling around the downstairs of our little bungalow. I left his cage top wide open and added some fresh food just in case he might be somewhere in the area, but there was no indication of his being anywhere in the house.  

The second day he was missing, I sadly looked down at the floor in the dining room and...there he was! He was a little weak and tired, so I was able to catch him right away and place him safely in his cage.  

He didn’t sing at first. When he did, it was just a few tentative tic-tic-tics.

 

 

Lisa Rainsong · Black-legged Meadow Katydid "tics"

 

He seemed exhausted. By the next day, however, he sang not only a few “tics” but also a short “whirr.’ Over the next two days, his songs gradually regained their decisive rhythm and became a little longer and a bit louder. He was getting stronger, and within two more days had returned to singing his complete songs. 

 

 

Lisa Rainsong · Black-legged Meadow Katydid singing in his warm cage

 

He is still with us, singing triumphantly and leaping from one plant to another while remaining safely in his cage. 

 

 

 Good Cat? Bad Cat? Same Cat!

 

 

Field season is coming to a close, sadly, though its end was delayed by abnormally warm autumn here in NE Ohio. As of November 20th, we still haven’t had frost up here near Lake Erie.   

 

But November will ultimately triumph.

When it does, however, our annual indoor singing insect ensemble will continue in gradually diminishing numbers for another couple of months. 

 

As of now, we still have multiple Forbes’s Tree Crickets (the ones who look like and sound similar to our less-common Black-horned Tree Crickets), a Four-spotted Tree Cricket upstairs in the bedroom who sings us to sleep, and two Broad-winged Tree Crickets who are much too loud for the bedroom but perfect for the study and the living room.

 

                      Broad-winged Tree Cricket on the blackberry leaves in his cage.

Lisa Rainsong · Broad-winged Tree Cricket singing at night

There is also a Black-legged Meadow Katydid you'll hear more about in a subsequent post. 

 

Where there are singing insect mesh cages, there will be a cat - specifically, Nikos.  He enjoys listening to the crickets and katydids and even falls asleep listening to them.  He often enjoys watching them as well.

 

 

Nikos would try to swipe some of the blackberry cuttings and goldenrod seed heads that I add to the cages, but he never bothered the cages themselves…

 

…until he did.

 

What was he after? The fresh plant leaves in the cages – especially those for the Black-legged Meadow Katydids and my favorite …

 

Oliver the Oblong-wing Katydid.

 

Lisa Rainsong · Oblong-winged Katytdid

The crickets and katydids always have mesh cages with many leaves and seed heads typical of their previous habitats. They seem to adapt quickly to these familiar plants and seeds, and this vegetation also provides the stages from which they sing.

 

 

Oliver’s large cage was quite lush with goldenrod, asters, and blackberry leaves, and Nikos decided one night that he was going to get all those leaves any way he could!

He mashed down the top of the cage with his front legs. Then he dumped the entire cage on its side, resulting in the water bottles for the plants pouring their contents on the table, the floor, and into Oliver’s food.. Oliver’s hydration cubes and dry food floated on the water and his skewers of organic apple, grape, and Romaine lettuce were added to the mess.

Our normally sweet Nikos was uncharacteristically frustrated and angry, and so was I!

 

But where was Oliver? He didn’t drown in there, did he? I was horrified when I couldn’t find him!

 

When I was certain he had somehow escaped the disaster, I wasn’t so panicked. Oliver had slipped out on two earlier occasions when I was changing everything in his cage, and both times he flew up to a wall or ceiling and began to call: Scritch-it? Scritch – it-IT? Wendy and I each had an opportunity to follow his calls to his lofty locations and gently catch and return him to the safety of his cage.

 

But this time, I couldn’t see or hear Oliver... until finally…

Scritch-it? Scritch-it-IT? 

 

Lisa Rainsong · Oblong winged Katydid 5 songs

He was OK somewhere, and I’d find him once he had a dry, upright, safe cage with plenty of plants. I was able to clean and dry up the messes, replace the plants, and resettle the restored katydid cage into a small room with a door I could tightly close.

 

It was time to find Oliver, catch him, and reestablish him in his refurbished cage.

 

I could hear him, but no matter where I searched, there was no katydid. He wasn’t on the walls, the ceiling, the windows, or any other surface I searched. I isolated the general area of the dining room from which his calls emanated and finally…

Scritch-it-IT?

 

 

 There he was - warm, dry, and unharmed!

I promptly resolved that ANY cage with attractive leaves would now be kept in a separate, secure room overnight.

Oliver lived for weeks after that and then quietly passed away from old age.  Nikos calmed down and hasn’t attempted any subsequent raids. 

And for now, Nikos is much more interested in basking in the late autumn sun while the remaining crickets and katydids sing under the south dining room windows.

Lisa Rainsong · Good Cat Nikos purr

Heat Wave Music at the Local Patch

 

     

Please note: SoundCloud has made significant changes that are affecting the visual presentation of my field recordings. I have yet to find a solution to this issue.

 

Many of you experienced the heat wave that lasted for a little over a week. It was miserable. It was likely miserable for the birds in the backyard, too, especially while attending to nestlings and fledglings.

We’ve always relied on ceiling fans and floor fans for our little bungalow, but this was the first time we were worried that this won’t be adequate as we age and the climate continues to warm. 

 

    

 

Our backyard inhabitants, however, have no choices, though our sprinkler offers a little bit of moisture and cooling.

Before the heat became too intense, my first temporary escape was a late-afternoon trip to a rural Geauga County park that’s a much-loved old friend of mine. 

 

 

It wasn’t as hot as our old, inner-ring suburb and I cherished the peace and privacy of a large meadow with no other humans around. Indigo Buntings, Field Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats…and enough quiet that I could easily hear every one of them. 

Lisa Rainsong · Song Sparrow, Mourning Dove, and wind

 

Back here at home, however, that degree of quiet is only a dream. Birds compete with landscaping crews armed with leaf blowers and string trimmers while huge riding mowers struggle to maneuver on small front lawns. 

Traffic on the nearby major street seems to increase every year and the bellowing of motorcycle ensembles roars late into the night. By day, I can see the windows and landing gear of ridiculously low-flying private jets preparing to land at the county airport. 

And the birds try to sing over all of it.

We provide a very nice habitat for them in our back yard. There’s an abundance of trees – pin oaks, red maples, an inoculated elm, white pine and yes, the typical backyard Norway spruces. We have smaller trees, including spicebush, redbud, and serviceberry, plus many native perennials, vines, ferns, and sedges that form a miniature forest understory. 

 

Deer routinely ate those native plants to the ground every year until we added a 6 foot chain link fence encircling the back yard without blocking the filtered light that reaches the ground.

 It’s also a welcoming habitat for Wendy and me, too.

 

But we can’t help with the noise.

By midweek, it was too exhaustingly hot to drive very far in search of peace. Fortunately for me, there is a park area relatively nearby where I can go after dark, enjoy slightly cooler temperatures, and listen to songs from the natural world – my “local patch.” 

 

Motorcycles roar down the winding road through the park as they do in the city, but when there’s less traffic, I can hear the silvery songs of Spring Trigs. These early season crickets are so small I have only seen them a few times.

 

Lisa Rainsong · Spring Trig and park road traffic

They sing within clumps of grasses and forbs and seem to have a particular fondness for poison ivy. I imagine they are pleased that this park has poison ivy as large as substantial shrubs.

 

I’ve been coming here for years, and these tiny northbound singers were not present until recently. Throughout much of NE Ohio, they are moving north as the climate warms and are now singing even within sight of Lake Erie.

That in itself was delightful, but I was here to listen to frogs. Amphibian choruses would be singing just a short distance away near the boardwalk along a lagoon.

I heard the Green Frogs first with a few Bullfrogs farther out in the water.

Lisa Rainsong · FrogFest at the lagoon

It’s been very dry as well as hot in NE Ohio – we’re technically in a moderate drought as of now, and the water level in the lagoon was quite low.  As a result, it was considerably easier to spot the Green Frogs than I’d expected                    

              

                                                                Green Frog 

                                                                    Bullfrog

The multitude of Green Frogs alone would be an excellent reason to visit this boardwalk after dark, but there was a larger ensemble ahead.

Lisa Rainsong · Gray Treefrogs featured in the FrogFest

Gray Treefrogs – my favorite amphibian singers!

They seem to descend from the woods to the ponds and wetland edges in mid-May and I find them in their temporary early summer residences into early July. They may be on tree trunks, in wetland vegetation, or on boardwalks, but unlike the Green Frogs, I never see them actually in the lagoon itself.

 

 

It’s a little challenging to determine how many Gray Treefrogs are actually calling, as I hear them almost nonstop in the darkness. Some call on slightly different pitches, which gives me a more accurate perception of the individual singers. 

Lisa Rainsong · Gray Treefrogs close enough to hear different pitches

Because they're spread out along the shallow edges of the lagoon, there’s no way to count their total numbers in the vegetation and on the tree trunks. 

It doesn’t really matter – it’s an impressive chorus that’s louder than all the Green Frogs and Bullfrogs combined!

 

                                           Gray Treefrogs can be green or brown

                                                
 

I reluctantly respected the park system’s closing time of 11pm, walking back past the singing Spring Trigs toward my car. 

Lisa Rainsong · Spring Trigs on the return path

I felt very fortunate for the option of spending time with the frogs at the lagoon, but sad for the backyard residents who have no escape from the noise and additional heat of my neighborhood. 

 

When I arrived home, I sat on the back porch steps watching multiple species of fireflies flashing from high in the trees to down in the gardens. A young raccoon approached along one of our wood chip paths and strolled past my feet without even a glance. Shortly thereafter, an opossum purposefully proceeded up the driveway and past the garage. 

We do what we can to create a welcoming space for all of them, but I wish we could help them – and us - with the heat and the noise.

 

Cleveland Heights and other Cleveland area residents, “Quiet Clean Heights” is working to address some of the noise issues I described in this piece. See their website at https://www.quietcleanheights.com/