Episode Number
126
Episode Show Notes / Description
Jumping bush cricket (Hapithus saltator).
The gently trilling and musical singer of fall.
Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make.
The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode:
- Jumping bush cricket single call by Wil Hershberger (ML107211)
- Jumping bush cricket chorus by Wil Hershberger (Songsofinsects.com)
Sources and more:
Transcript
This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”
One of the more musical insects of fall are as secretive as they are common, each one of the males singing from the shrubs, low trees, and weedy fences around your neighborhood somehow able to elude the beam of your flashlight when you shine it towards their song. They start singing around august and will sing until the first frost and sometimes a little after. This is the jumping bush cricket.
I can think of very few sounds I’d rather hear on a cool fall evening than a chorus of jumping bush crickets. They lend a sunset walk or evening bonfire an air of tranquility with their clear, little, peaceful trills. They give those trills once or twice a second slower if its cold and faster if its warm. Individuals can vary the pitch of that call slightly to make it a touch higher or lower than nearby singers, and this can give that evening chorus a kind of call and response feel. Here’s the jumping bush cricket again.
Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab and Wil Hershberger at songsofinsects.com for today’s sounds. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW
One of the more musical insects of fall are as secretive as they are common, each one of the males singing from the shrubs, low trees, and weedy fences around your neighborhood somehow able to elude the beam of your flashlight when you shine it towards their song. They start singing around august and will sing until the first frost and sometimes a little after. This is the jumping bush cricket.
I can think of very few sounds I’d rather hear on a cool fall evening than a chorus of jumping bush crickets. They lend a sunset walk or evening bonfire an air of tranquility with their clear, little, peaceful trills. They give those trills once or twice a second slower if its cold and faster if its warm. Individuals can vary the pitch of that call slightly to make it a touch higher or lower than nearby singers, and this can give that evening chorus a kind of call and response feel. Here’s the jumping bush cricket again.
Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab and Wil Hershberger at songsofinsects.com for today’s sounds. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW