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Comments

• [1] superf88 September 04, 2009 - 10:47AM

  Just back from several weeks on a ranch out west, which was overrun with epic numbers of crickets aka grasshoppers. They seem to be most abundant right before a big fire, actually...I'll assume there is no link between forest fires and the way crickets make that noise...

  
  
• [2] Eric from NYC September 04, 2009 - 10:55AM

  The iPhone has an app called "iTalk" which might be a good tool to use. Its a pretty good recorder.

  
  
• [3] Catherine Torpey from Rockville Centre September 04, 2009 - 10:56AM

  1. Is a katydid a cicada?

  2. One of your chirps was just silence on the air.

  
  
• [4] andrea from kew gardens September 04, 2009 - 10:57AM

  Everyday and night in the late summer and early fall outside my window which borders on Forest Park in Kew Gardens.

  
  
• [5] Anne from Merrick September 04, 2009 - 10:58AM

  Well, we definitely have the oblong winged katydid here in Merrick. When you played the clip, I thought "Gee, why are they playing dead air? Oh, that's the same crickets I'm hearing outside my window."

  
  
• [6] Carla from Queens September 04, 2009 - 10:59AM

  My cat has never found your show more interesting! She's captivated by this segment.

  
  
• [7] Mary Arnold from NYC, Queens September 04, 2009 - 11:00AM

  I hear crickets singing in this area of Queens -- Otto Road & 69th St. Glendale 11385 at the intersection of a RR yard, the impervious developed neighborhood, and a cemetery.

  
  
• [8] CG from Queens NY September 04, 2009 - 11:01AM

  When I first moved to Kew Gardens, Queens in 1995 I never heard katydids in Maple Grove Cemetery, which my apartment faces. However, over the past few summers, they seem to be building up a little katydid community, it's great! Lots of other crickets out there at night, too.

  
  
• [9] Frank G from Harlem September 04, 2009 - 11:02AM

  This last Sunday, heard cricket chirp coming from lot on corner of Spring St and Washington St.

  
  
• [10] Marc Dennis from Brooklyn September 04, 2009 - 11:02AM

  INSECTS ARE FOOD is an organization that promotes

  entomophagy (the practice of eating insects) as a healthy, safe and sustainable food source. http://www.insectsarefood.com/index.php

  Crickets are one of the more popular edible species. Katydids and cicadas as well. Their songs are for some people, the sounds of recipes. The crawl "sounds" interesting. ;) The song sung by Jiminy at the end of the piece by the way was a bit creepy though I'm not sure why.

  
  
• [11] Shane from NYC September 04, 2009 - 11:04AM

  In Manhattan - In Morningside Gardens @ 501 West 123rd Street the garden side of the building has many katydids. My friend lives on the first floor and the chorus from her garden window an unbelievable delight in the evening!

  
  
• [12] David Troy from Brooklyn, New York September 04, 2009 - 11:06AM

  When this topic was being covered today, Sept 4 on WNYC, I was surprised to hear that the guest thought it unusual to hear Cicadas in Greenwich Village. Over the years, I have heard Cicadas all over Manhattan; including in solitary trees in Soho; sometimes just one Cicada in a tree. It is lovely to hear. Here in Flatbush, there are quite a few, as I type, in the trees of Flatbush Gardens.

  
  
• [13] Matt from Williamsburg September 04, 2009 - 11:11AM

  For the last two summers (late August), I've heard Katydids around the south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn -- even managed to snap a picture of a large one that landed on my balcony last year.

  
  
• [14] David Troy from Flatbush, Brooklyn September 04, 2009 - 11:24AM

  The Cicadas in the trees here seem to be the Common True Katydid, though slightly different sounding to those on Soundsofinsects.com; but they are the closest of those listed.

  
  
• [15] Lou Sorkin from NYC September 04, 2009 - 01:30PM

  The easiest ways to differentiate the two:

  Cicadas are members of the insect order Hemiptera, those insects with specialized mouthparts formed into a beak and used to suck fluids.

  Katydids, crickets, grasshoppers are members of the insect order Orthoptera and have chewing mouthparts.

  The Orthoptera have hind legs modified for jumping, their hind leg femur is thickened to house large muscles.

  Hemipteran legs are basically the same, a definite modification is seen, however, in the immature cicada (nymph) where the front legs are modified for digging.

  
  
• [16] Matt Buffington from Washington, DC September 07, 2009 - 07:57PM

  Thanks, Lou, for sorting the Orthoptera from the Hemiptera. Good clades make good neighbors.

  This is going to be so much fun and so interesting. Look forward to meeting up with you sometime during The Crawl!

  
  
• [17] MAry Anne from City Island, Bronx September 14, 2009 - 06:52PM

  Is it too late to register cricket soundings?

  
  
• [18] Lou Sorkin from NY September 15, 2009 - 01:21AM

  The picture used on top of this story is a camel cricket (Rhaphidophoridae) and actually is a species not able to chirp. Should use one of the katydid or cricket species that the Cricket Crawl was looking for.