Hi!
What are these bugs that sound so mettalic and appear at the start of July? I remember last year in Atlanta they used to keep me awake at night. now i am in lilburn and here they are. Has anyone seen them?
metallic crickets
Maybe cicadas, but as kids we just called 'em "crickets" and I think you'll hear a lot of southerners refer to them as crickets still. Not that they're a southern phenomena only. I googled "cicada sound" and found that they're all over the planet. Go to this link and see if this is the sound -- http://www.chat11.com/Cicada_Sound Sheila
Thank you very much for the link, Sheila.
These crickets sing at night, not duign the day as cicadas. They start at the beginning of july and stop by August.
It is like someone using a saw. It goes tchtch...tchtch...tchtch...
Don't you LOVE to hear them? We have double doors leading from our bedroom to the screen room and we sleep with them open every night just to hear the night sounds. Between the river running on the rapids, the 'crickets' chirping, frogs croaking everywhere, and the whip-o-wills chiming in, I'm sure there's no better sleeping anywhere! But... our orchestra has been playing since before July and they were singing last year when we moved here in October, so maybe it's something different. I don't know but I sure do love it!
Teateacher, I love it as well. I am curious about these crickets. They just sing in july and some of august. i would love to see what they look like.
Okay, I just had to check it out further. By jove, I think my "crickets" are katydids. Here's a website with some sound recordings, just scroll down and click on them. Right now what I'm hearing out the window sounds exactly like sound number 2. http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/true_katydid.htm
Thanks for asking this interesting question. I love the internet, DG, and all this knowledge sharing! Sheila
the only time i ever hear cicadas is at night. alot of the old old people call them tree crickets. the reason for that is if you have pine trees cicadas shed there molting layer tranformation on the pine trees.
there are several different species here . 4 or 5 i think. in some summers you here more and then some less.
some species of cicadas only sing during the day but others only sing !!!! during the night!!!
with over 300 species its hard to tell which one you here. most likely its a night singing one that is common here and its black looking.
okay had to do a report on them when in college years ago.
adding adult cicadas due start to show up during the warmer months as to find a mate and so the females have time to lay eggs and the babies can burrow under ground for years till adult hood before the ground gets cold.
In case anybody wants to read more about cicadas and katydids: http://www.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/magicicada/Periodical/magiFAQ.html
Fun stuff!
Soup, that is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you very much for th elink. It is number 2. Now I have to see if I can find them in real life!
thank you!