Music in the Dark

When the sun sets, a night symphony begins-meet a few of the insect players.

- SALLY ROTH

You can't see the singers in the shadows, but you sure can hear them! Their music fills the night air pulsating, chirping, clicking, and buzzing from every direction. The concert starts soon after dusk and keeps going strong until around midnight, and it can last well into November in some areas.

Who are these secret singers? Crickets and katydids. Depending on where you call home, you might hear any of hundreds of different species, including a couple with amusing and grand monikers. For example, you might hear the aptly named melodious ground cricket, splendid shield-backed katydid, or robust conehead.

Night-singing insects fill all sorts of ecological niches, making homes under logs and in fields, marshes, deserts, shrubs, trees or grasses, and our own yards, too. To boost the number and variety of your musicians, naturalist, and educator Carl Strang, who holds a doctorate in wildlife ecology, recommends planting your garden in layers: "The same as you would for birds, with a nice structure of trees, bushes, and herbaceous plants, including natives."