November 8, 2009 - Last Call

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

The last of the goldenrods are fading in fields already deep in shades of brown and tan. The first frosts have taken their toll of weeds and wildflowers. Down among the plant stems, untouched by frost, the last of this year’s crickets take refuge. On warmer days and nights you can hear the males calling in one final effort to populate next summer’s fields with crickets. As their days begin to fade away, female crickets still have time to insert their eggs in the stems of meadow plants. There they will shelter through the winter to hatch when next spring arrives. Although the voices in this year’s cricket chorus have significantly dwindled in number, a new chorus will awaken to take their place next summer as another generation hatches and grows to adulthood.
 
This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.