Songs of Summer

A Forbes' tree cricket resting atop a sneezeweed. Photo by Larry Reis

Iowa has its own native rockstars that make a summer appearance, (and no, we’re not referring to the famed rock band Slipknot.) Crickets, katydids and cicadas all make their debut in the summertime and are known for being particularly noisy with their sweet songs.

These insects aren’t nonsensically reverberating. Their mating seasons fall in summer so that they can lay eggs in time to protect their nymphs from the coming winter. The males of each of these species are trying to out-shriek each other using their own distinct chorus at different times during the season with the purpose of attracting their perfect mate.

Katydids are often heard in the middle of the afternoon and typically make themselves known within the trees. A total of 23 katydid species live in the state, and while they each sound a little different, the melody they project sounds like, “katydid-katydid-katydid-did.” 

To make their distinct “chirp,” cricket species will rub their wings together energetically, and the sound they project is a therapeutic repetitive ringing. They like to hide in tall grasses and trees, depending on the species. Crickets are often one of the last species to sing for the season, and you may hear them late into autumn. 

Cicadas (often misidentified as locusts,) essentially have a drum on their abdomen that they rapidly click in and out to make their distinct buzzing tune, which has the potential to out-roar a jet plane. Once the cicada nymphs have hatched, they spend their earliest stages of life burrowed underground in wooded areas, and gorge on tree roots until they are ready to reappear and begin the mating process all over again.

There are two categories of cicada species­—annual and periodical cicadas. A new batch of annual cicadas appear, as you might expect, every summer. They are much larger than their periodical counterparts but only have a 2–5-year lifespan, nearly all of which is spent underground as a nymph except for a few short weeks midsummer. Periodical cicadas live much longer and only emerge every 13 or 17 years. Last year was a special one in that two periodical cicada broods emerged around the same time as the annuals, filling the summer air with three distinct cicada songs. You can find more information about cicadas and find a few activities to interact with cicadas in our post from last year. 

Embrace nature’s songs of summer and spend some time making memories with your loved ones while listening to and identifying Iowa’s singing insects, right in your own backyard or at a nearby park