yesterday an orchid-hunting friend and I went looking for flowering plants of isotria medeloides in southern ny state. I went up on the hill first to see if there were any plants in flower (he is older and has asthma). we saw right by the car, a cicada that had crawled up a grass stem and we took a few pictures. after I got up about 3/4 of the way up the hill I started hearing this unusual, whirring-type noise. I realized that it must have been the cicadas up in the trees! it sounded much like the sound a whiffle ball would make tied to a string, and spun around quickly through the air. it didn't sound anything like the usual cicadas you hear in late summer. I recorded the sound on my phone's voice memo program as it was quite loud, and took a few pictures. in some spots trees and leaves were covered with empty cases and insects hanging underneath the leaves or on the sides of trees and branches. they were hanging out mostly around short oak trees, and you would hear them in pockets through the woods. when driving back down through southern ny and into northern nj, there was one section of the state thruway 287 and I-78 where they join where I could clearly hear them in the trees on both sides of the four-lane highway, while I was driving with the windows down in my car, which also happens to have a loud exhaust right now. so, they were quite loud in places! once moving further west, I didn't hear them. it was quite hot where I did hear them, and not as hot where I didn't, and you didn't hear them through pine woods
I didn't see any isotria, but did find some all-green sundew and a pink ladyslipper with a full seed pod
the video below is 128 mb, and has the video and sound of the cicadas while I was walking back down to the car
http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/cicadavideo6-2-13full.mov
more later
very cool!
I didn't see any isotria, but did find some all-green sundew and a pink ladyslipper with a full seed pod
the video below is 128 mb, and has the video and sound of the cicadas while I was walking back down to the car
http://www.cnyos.org/exdisp/cicadavideo6-2-13full.mov
more later
very cool!
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