by Carl Strang
It has been a memorable few weeks. This year I took the bulk of my vacation time in the heart of the singing insect season, mid-August to mid-September, and spent most of it traveling around the 22-county area, from southwest Michigan to southeast Wisconsin, where I am seeking the 100 species of cicadas, crickets, katydids and singing grasshoppers that occur (at least potentially) there. This travel took me to many memorable places.
High quality forests are scattered around the region. Sanders Park, Racine County, Wisconsin.
I didn’t spend a lot of time in the forests, however, much as I love them. Most singing insects live in more open habitats.
The dunes around the edge of Lake Michigan provided some of the most open habitats. Warren Dunes State Park, Michigan.
One of my favorite areas was Miller Woods at the western end of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
The trail leads through savanna and past wetlands. Here it crosses a former rail foundation.
The Miller Woods Trail eventually skirts a large pond at the edge of the dunes, and reaches the beach.
Wetlands included Bluff Creek in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Walworth County, Wisconsin.
The water was beautiful and clear, flowing over stones and gravel.
A fen-like wetland, bordering the creek, contained species such as the fringed gentian.
Sure, I was paying attention to species other than singing insects. At the Houghton Lake Nature Conservancy property in Marshall County, Indiana, I encountered a couple interesting ones.
A Chinese mantis nymph stalked through the wetland vegetation.
This gray treefrog snoozed in a leaf bed.
The most extensive prairie I encountered was in the Bong Recreation Area, Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Its size alone speaks to the potential in this restoration project.
For now I will close with the sunset on my last evening at Bong.
The sunset was a beautiful prelude to a rainy evening in camp.
The singing insects of course were the focus of all this travel. I’ll share images of some of them in future posts.
