Summer Symphony

Here is a black screen video because I wanted the audio. Listen to our backyard! (You might have to turn up your speaker.)

Crickets, tree frogs, and who know what else?! The chorus of summer is always sadly missed as the nights get colder and the autumn gets colder. The crickets are usually the last to go. Frog Forum says they do fine, but slow down and don't sing much below the 40s.

About.com says:

    Crickets go quiet when we move because crickets don't have ears like we do. Instead, they have a pair of tympanal organs on their legs, which vibrate in response to vibrating air molecules (sound) in the surrounding air. A special receptor called the chordatal organ translates the vibration from the tympanal organ into a nerve impulse, which reaches the cricket's brain.

    The cricket, ever on the alert for predators, responds to this message by doing what it can to hide – it goes silent. Crickets are extremely sensitive to vibration, so I'm not surprised that it reacts to your movements, however softly you try to get out of bed and sneak up on it.
    Only male crickets chirp, by the way. The males make that chirping sound by rubbing the edges of their forewings together. They chirp to call for female mates. Since most predators are active during daylight hours, crickets chirp at night.

One of my favorite creations is this song inspired by a cricket. Okay, this recording is louder than the one above.