I took my nephew (14) camping over the weekend with my best friend and his son (also 14).
We had a great time and told stories and all that around the camp fire, all the while coyotes howled far away (I was in the NH lakes region).
Tonight, I’m sitting here on my couch with the windows opened wide and in the city, and I can hear crickets chirping.
Wow.
Oh man, I cannot wait until the fall; my favorite time of year.
Right now the wind is blowing through the leaves now and then, and they sound crisper than they have. I can hear crickets chirping now and then and also a constant backdrop of some other cricket-like noise.
I love the fall so much, but I think this is the best time of year, since I get to anticipate those months I love so much.
No crickets here in MN yet. This seems to have been a very strange year for little critters. We had a huge number of butterflies but no slugs, an abundance of earwigs but not a single cricket or grasshopper. We usually have a slew of slugs and a crapload of crickets. I’m interested to see what happens when box elder/Asian lady beetle season arrives.
And sparky!, I’m with you. The anticipation of autumn is almost as good as autumn itself.
Here in wet, green Virginia we have katydids and tree frogs adding to the nightly serenade. More startling are the foxes – they often make a sound like a small child being murdered.
I grew up in New England, where crickets started around now and katydids meant that summer was nearly over. Now I’m in Pennsylvania, where crickets start in June and the katydids started about a week ago. (Actually, what’s really weird is that there is one yard in my neighborhood that gets crickets in May. Always the same yard. I actually glanced around for hidden speakers the first time I heard them.)
We’re just now seeing a few crickets (north Iowa). No mosquitoes – probably because of the drought.
The orioles have already left, but they migrate early anyway. We went through six jars of grape jam, feeding them for about two months.
Haven’t seen a robin for at least a month. Still have a lot of hummingbirds, and there are more rabbits than usual. My neighbor gets up earlier than me and she counted ten in her yard. Ten! They used to be rare.
I’m thinking/hoping there won’t be many Asian lady beetles. They peaked here about six years ago and have been steadily decreasing.
I had the fucking cricket & katydid philharmonic practicing in my backyard last night. I’m lying there wondering if I had any firecrackers in the basement b/c I was very tempted to get up & go looking for them, hoping that lighting one or two would be enough to scare the insect violinists to shut up long enough for me to go back to sleep.
You’re more than welcome to come & take 'em from my yard. The fireflys are not nearly so annoying, so leave them, if you don’t mind.
Heard the first cicada today. They usually don’t start whining until mid-August. I’m not looking forward to an extra 2 weeks of that. Still no crickets and no grasshoppers, which is a shame. I was looking forward to seeing my chickens chase them.
Here near Boston, the cicadas have been making a racket for the past week. Last year was supposed to be the year for them (16 year cicadas). One good bit of news-no dog/deer ticks! Haven’t seen one since April.
