July 25, 2010 - Cricket Connections
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Cell phones are part of our daily lives, allowing us to connect with someone a distance away. Crickets make their connections with ancient insect technology. As darkness falls on a summer day, crickets begin making their own calls. They are not as private as our telephone conversations, but are broadcast to all who listen. These are songs of male crickets calling to attract a mate. Each cricket species has its own signature song. Field crickets, for example, have a typical song of loud, clear chirps. In contrast, the Carolina Ground Cricket sings a rapid, buzzy trill that seems to waver slightly.  This pleasant series of evenly spaced chirps belongs to a Snowy Tree Cricket. And just as with our phones, sometimes the caller makes a connection and at other times it does not.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.