Cones and Seeds: Listening in Context

I’m going to write a few posts this summer about crickets and katydids in context. I’ve written about individual species and certainly about range expansion, and I think it’s also very helpful to observe these insects as part of a habitat. What do they eat? Which other Orthopterans are in the habitat, and how are they similar? Do those other species use the same plants? Is there any similarity between their songs?

Let’s start with many people’s favorite katydid: the Sword-bearing Conehead.

First, you hear them.

 

Lisa Rainsong · Sword - Bearing Conehead

 

Then, you attempt to find one. This could take a while

If and when you’re successful, I invite you to photograph him, but don’t move along just yet. You may know his song and his general appearance, but there’s so much more to observe!

First, what does he do while he’s singing? You might assume he’ll just stay in one position with his cone upright, but…

 

 Sword-bearing Conehead (Neoconocephalus ensiger)

He can – and will – sing upside down and will parade up and down a stem without missing a single pulse of his ongoing song. I find this rather impressive.

Females as well as males will dine upside-down.

 

 

Try not to disturb them, though, because they’ll turn upside down and drop cone first into the grasses, never to be seen by you again.

And definitely admire the female's ovipositor. She’s the one that bears the sword!

 

Although the males sing almost tirelessly, both males and females spend a lot of time enthusiastically eating…seeds, seeds, and more seeds! 

 

  

It’s fortunate that they have six legs, because they have to hold on to their stems while extricating those seeds. It’s fairly straightforward when they climb up a substantial grass stem with a seed head at the top, and upside down looks so effortless for them.

 

With patience and good fortune, you may be able to maneuver to the opposite side of the stem and actually watch them eat.

And that mouth!

 

Coneheads in Context

While every conehead is quite splendid in itself, it also is part of a broader context. What about their habitat? Other Orthopteran neighbors? Who else is singing, and how can we separate the songs?

While studying Sword-bearing Coneheads (or any other singing insect), notice the habitat and what other singing insects might share it. In this case, the habitat is usually an open field or meadow with grasses and quite possibly a mix of forbs such as goldenrod and asters as well. Remember, the male will need a fairly substantial stem for his singing perch.

When looking for a Sword-bearing Conehead, I’ll often find meadow katydid nymphs and adults. Slender Meadow Katydids mature in later July, as do the Sword-bearers. Tiny Short-winged Meadow Katydid nymphs will also be searching for seeds. 

 

 

Why not see what you can learn about these neighbors? If they live in the same habitat, do they share similarities with the Sword-bearing Coneheads? 

Slender Meadow Katydids may not have a prominent cone, but they, too can also perch, eat, and sing upside down. Their slender, green bodies and long, brown wings create an impressive blend with the grasses in which they live. They, too, love seeds! 

Lisa Rainsong · Slender Meadow Katydid

                                    

Slender Meadow Katydid female (Conocephalus fasciatus)

 

In some areas, the habitat may be shared with Straight-lanced Meadow Katydids. Look at the female’s ovipositor – she’s carrying a substantial sword herself. And look at the little bump on this species’ head: it’s not quite a cone, but it looks like it could grow into one. These katydids live in grassy fields and are also seed-eaters.  

Lisa Rainsong · Straight - lanced Meadow Katydid

 

                                

Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid (Conocephalus strictus)

Male, above and female, below

 

Short-winged Meadow Katydids are also common in meadows, though they live in edge habitats as well. They're just as fond of seeds as the Slender and Straight-lanced Meadow Katydids and could certainly be found in the same vicinity as the Sword-bearing Coneheads. What I find especially charming about them is how boldly the nymphs climb all the way to the tops of big bluestem after dark so that they can reach the abundance of seeds far above the ground.

Lisa Rainsong · Short-winged Meadow Katydid

 

  Short-winged Meadow Katydid female (Conocephalus brevipennis)

 

There are two Orchelimum meadow katydids you may find as well: Gladiator Meadow Katydids in the early summer and Common Meadow Katydids a little later. They are a little larger and heftier than those in the Conocephalus genus, but they appear and sound more similar than different.

Gladiator Meadow Katydids live in a somewhat wider range of habitats, as they can be found both in grassy meadows and in wetland edges. They are just as enamored with seeds as the other katydids we've visited. 

Lisa Rainsong · Gladiator Meadow Katydid Bath Nature Preserve

 

 

 Gladiator Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum gladiator)

  

Common Meadow Katydids are a possibility as well, though they are not as widespread in NE Ohio as our Gladiators. Common Meadow Katydids can be found in fields and meadows, but not typically near wetlands.

Lisa Rainsong · Common Meadow Katydid Bigelow Cemetery

 

Common Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum vulgare)

 

It's a nice collection of seed enthusiasts, and any of them may be found singing and feasting with the Sword-bearing Coneheads.

And what is it about timothy, anyway? It’s a favorite among coneheads and meadow katydids, but they’re not the only ones. I see meadow and edge habitat tree crickets - including nymphs – on timothy. Beetles. Bugs. I've even seen slugs up on timothy seed heads! If we're looking at and listening to the overall Sword-bearer habitat, why not see who else is sharing the dining room?

 Narrow-winged Tree Cricket (Oecanthus niveus)

Let's focus next on the various meadow katydid songs and the Sword-bearing Conehead’s song. Listen: are there similarities? I imagine you'll find the meadow katydids to be challenging to tell apart. Their songs are typically long repetitions of tics and/or whirrs that are fairly high in frequency (as in pitch, not occurrence). Let's do a comparison and you can see (or hear) what you think.

The meadow katydids are quite similar and the Sword-bearing Coneheads seem to blend in nicely with their continuous, high-frequency songs. Why are such similar songs heard in the same habitat? What makes them suitable for meadows and fields? 

Lisa Rainsong · Cones and Seeds medley

    

The order of the singers is: Sword-bearing Conehead, Slender Meadow Katydid, 

Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid, Short-winged Meadow Katydid, Gladiator Meadow Katydid, Common Meadow Katydid, and a return to the Sword-bearing Conehead.

 

I'll compare these to some of the woodland and edge habitat katydids in the next post I write.

I’ll leave you with one more interesting fact about the Sword-bearing Coneheads. Although they are generally green in my area (NE Ohio), I have found a couple of brown forms as well. Some coneheads, such as the Round-tipped, seem to occur in equal numbers of green and brown forms, but a brown Sword-bearer is a rare treat in NE Ohio. The only two I have found in my area were at Bath Nature Preserve in Summit County. The first photo is a brown female with a rosy face. You'll see how the brown male in the second photo blends beautifully while hiding in the dried grasses.

Assisting with the second Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas taught me a great deal about watching and listening for behavior, relationships, and overall context. I approach singing insects in a similar way, and there are fascinating things to learn from any of them.

And what better place to start than coneheads and their seeds?

 

 

 

Chamber Music in a Cemetery

 Did you know that western Ohio once had miles of beautiful tall grass prairie? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you did not, as the area is now miles upon miles of corn and soybeans.  But I had an opportunity to see two tiny remnants of what must have been stunning land beyond anything I can imagine – and of course, I listened to hear what kind of insect and avian ensemble might still be present.

My partner Wendy and I had only very recently learned about two tiny prairie remnants just west of Columbus and had the opportunity to spend time in both of them before and after the Midwest Native Plant Conference in Dayton at the beginning of the month.  They are pioneer cemeteries, which is the only reason they haven’t been destroyed and replaced with corn.  They are now Bigelow and Smith Cemetery State Nature Preserves.   Jim McCormac wrote about Bigelow in his outstanding blog, Ohio Birds and Biodiversity, and you can read about Bigelow here.  I had also just heard and seen his account of both cemeteries in a presentation at The West Woods nature center in the Geauga Park District, and they are included Wild Ohio, his gorgeous book with photographer Gary Meszaros.

To our great delight, Cheryl Harner invited us to meet her at these cemetery prairies because she really wanted us to see them!  Cheryl is the organizer of Flora-Quest and her blog – which I highly recommend - is Weedpicker’s Journal.

The grave markers are barely visible among all the flowers and grasses, which are so dense and so tall that I could barely see over them!  My favorite was Bigelow and Wendy's was Smith, but we loved them both.  We returned to spend considerable time in them after the conference ended.

I wanted to know who might be singing in these tiny habitats.  Bigelow Cemetery is only one half acre, and Smith Cemetery is one acre.  Yes, that’s all that’s left.  Not much of a concert hall anymore…

But what a difference from the corn and soybean fields!  The towering stands of corn across the road from Bigelow were absolutely silent.  I cannot begin to tell you how disturbing it was to hear absolutely nothing but the sound of thick corn plant leaves rustling in the breeze.  Nothing else was living there.   

The only songs I heard were those of the Allard’s Ground Crickets and Striped Ground Crickets in the grass right along the road.  Allard's were more common, and you'll hear primarily this species in the recording.  The slower, more separated Striped Ground Cricket can be heard as well, but it's not as close.  They look so similar that it's a good thing the songs are quite different.  Here are two of the crickets that were in the grass by the road, and each is no more than 1/2" in size.

 

Even these songs stopped where the corn began.  As soon as we crossed the road into Bigelow, however, we heard Song Sparrows, a Chipping Sparrow, an Indigo Bunting, crickets, katydids…. even though it was early August, there was constant bird song.   

I was quickly drawn to the song of a meadow katydid I don’t hear very often in my part of NE Ohio. It was the Common Meadow Katydid - a species that I don't find to be very common at all.  There were several of them singing and I thought sure we could easily find them.

Not exactly.  They have no patience for humans looking at them, especially with a camera.  I was able to get a couple of quick photos, but I had better luck with my microphone.  Here’s a recording of one of the Bigelow Prairie Chamber Ensemble musicians singing from hiding followed by a photo of him before he disappeared.

Although the adult male had no use for me, this little female nymph was not at all shy.  I discovered her chewing on one of the Royal Catchfly plants, almost looking like she was teething.  

 

Without any encouragement on my part, she climbed right onto my hand and began chewing on me as well.  I actually had to convince her to return to her plant when I was ready to move down the path a bit.

There were even smaller nymphs present and several adult males, so clearly these katydids were doing well in their little home area.  They just cannot expand beyond their half-acre allotment unless one makes it as far as someone’s garden and is not mistaken for a pest species.

The ground crickets were singing in the cemetery as well as along the road, and I also found an Oblong-winged Katydid dining in the flowers.

I was surprised by this discovery.  I sometimes find them in meadows but more often in hedge rows and open woods. I don’t think these lovely katydids would have flown in from outside the cemetery.  Where would they have come from?  Certainly not the corn.  Have they been living there in this half-acre of prairie with a few trees for generation after generation?

It would be quite interesting to hear who else sings in the cemetery prairies at night.  There are sure to be conehead katydids – Sword-bearing and perhaps Nebraska Coneheads - though they, too sing at night. I’ll bet there are now tree crickets singing that hadn’t yet matured enough to sing when we were there.  I suspect it’s a little chamber hall in the middle of a sonic wasteland!

I left happy to have visited, but terribly sad about the losses.  Outside of the cemeteries, I heard cars, pickups, a tractor, some planes – but no music.  No insect song, no bird song, not even avian call notes.  When the concert halls are plowed, bulldozed, or paved over, the music is over.  When the insect musicians are poisoned and the avian musicians evicted, there’s nothing left but human noise.  Any birds and insects that remain struggle to be heard over the din.

I’ll return to my absolute fascination with Earth’s first musicians in my next post, but today I have to tell you why as musician I have chosen to work to preserve the music of the Earth.  They’re our first teachers, and they deserve our greatest respect.