Summer Evening Urban Wildlife Symphony
As we walked the dogs around our neighborhood this sultry September evening, we were serenaded by singing insects. We heard the temperature-measuring cheep cheep cheep cheep of the snowy tree cricket, the excitable clock tick tick tick tick tickticktickticktick of the greater angle-winged katydid and the "cricket. crickeket." of the true katydid. Whoever named them "katydid" after their impression of their dry scratching call had quite an imagination.
Then I heard another call, which was entirely unfamiliar to me. My first instinct is always is to try to imitate the new call. It was difficult--I tried pinching a pocket of air between my cheek and molars to squeeze out an approximation of the animal's call with no success. Fortunately at that moment I saw the new singer, not in a bush or a low apple branch, but high above the roofs of the triple-deckers. Yes, as with the cedar waxwing, I had mistaken the sound of a bird for an insect. There were two of them, with falconlike silhouettes darting around in a manner similar to chimney swifts, but with the burden of somewhat more mass. I recognized the shape from my memory of field guide illustrations, and matched it with their descriptions of the call: a nasal "peent." It was my first Common Nighthawk sighting, a pair feeding on insects on this warm evening before their long trip to South America. (That last link includes a recording of their call.)
Then I heard another call, which was entirely unfamiliar to me. My first instinct is always is to try to imitate the new call. It was difficult--I tried pinching a pocket of air between my cheek and molars to squeeze out an approximation of the animal's call with no success. Fortunately at that moment I saw the new singer, not in a bush or a low apple branch, but high above the roofs of the triple-deckers. Yes, as with the cedar waxwing, I had mistaken the sound of a bird for an insect. There were two of them, with falconlike silhouettes darting around in a manner similar to chimney swifts, but with the burden of somewhat more mass. I recognized the shape from my memory of field guide illustrations, and matched it with their descriptions of the call: a nasal "peent." It was my first Common Nighthawk sighting, a pair feeding on insects on this warm evening before their long trip to South America. (That last link includes a recording of their call.)