by Carl Strang
One of the unexpected findings from the field season just past was the discovery of Japanese burrowing crickets at Bendix Woods in St. Joseph County, Indiana.
Japanese burrowing cricket
As described earlier, there is a well-established population of this exotic species in the gravel-filled medians dividing parking lots and drives in the central part of the park. They are well buried, and it was only their distinctive songs that gave them away.
The chirps are distinctly buzzier than those of the fall field crickets that were singing nearby. Here is a fall field cricket recording from 2006 for comparison.
Listening to it, I’m getting a warm reminder of summer. Common true katydids, a striped ground cricket, and wall-of-sound tree crickets and other ground crickets are in the background.
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