Songs of Insects

Red-headed Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum erythrocephalum)

Song of a Red-headed Meadow Katydid (scroll down for explanation and additional recordings!).

The Red-headed Meadow Katydid is large and stunningly handsome, with a variably bright red or orange-red head, and eyes ranging from black to pink or blue. They can be amazingly numerous in their preferred habitats, which can vary from inland palmetto thickets to seaside dune grasses. Even though abundant, they are often difficult to locate because singing males tend to stay hidden on the bottom side of leaves and stems, giving their song a ventriloquial quality.
 

Red-headed Meadow Katydid

Left cercus from above.

Red-headed Meadow Katydids can be found in the piedmont of the eastern US from New Jersey to southern Louisiana.

Song: A loud staccato tick followed by a short buzzy trill at a frequency of 8–20 kHz. The singing pattern is distinctive, with songs given one after the other without pause, droning on uninterrupted to the point of almost being annoying. A long series of ticks (without buzzes) may also be given.
 
Sonogram of a Red-headed Meadow Katydid. © Wil Hershberger.