Thumbnail Guide to Species (with sounds)
Scroll down to play typical song samples of all the species included in this guide. Click on photographs to open “species pages,” where you will find detailed descriptions of songs, range maps, and additional photographs of that species.
Field Crickets
The pleasant chirping of these crickets is commonly heard.
Spritely chirps at about 4 per second.
Trills with unevenly spaced pauses going on for minutes.
An evenly spaced series of beautiful upward chirps.
A rapid series of short chirps similar to Field Crickets.
Ground Crickets
A beautiful silvery trill that is too fast to count.
A pulsing rapid trill that seems to stumble now and then.
Short, two-syllabled chirps heard from leaf litter.
Evenly spaced short trills from grassy areas.
Evenly spaced short trills from grassy areas.
Bright, silvery, quiet, high-pitched trills from bogs.
Pleasing, continuous trills from leaf litter.
A lilting, continuous series of chirps separated by the length of one chirp.
A bright, silvery trill just slow enough to count the chirps.
A variably long trill that starts softly.
Tree Crickets
A mellow continuous trill from brambles evening and night.
A mellow continuous trill from brambles day and night.
A loud continuous trill heard at night in weedy fields.
A mellow continuous trill from deciduous trees at night.
A rapid trill from weeds heard day and night.
A continuous trill heard both day and night.
Mellow trill of variable length, often short.
A continuous musical trill at night from evergreens.
Pleasant series of chirps sung in synchrony with other males.
A plaintive, dissonant trill from trees at night.
Bush Crickets and Trigs
Brief, clear trills from trees and shrubs at night.
A delightful, pulsating from trees and shrubs at night.
A rattling broken trill from hedges day and night.
A loud, clear, silvery trill heard day and night.
A loud, clear, silvery trill. Slower pulse rate than Say’s Trig.
A clear, silvery series of chirps at around 4 pulses per second.
A loud, clear, rapid, silvery trill heard day and night.
Mole Crickets
Frog-like trills from ponds and marshes at night.
A loud continuous trill at night.
Meadow Katydids
A high-pitched purring trill from salt marshes day and night.
Evenly spaced ticks followed shuffling trill.
Evenly spaced ticks followed by a long purring trill.
Lispy trills from roadsides and woods day and night.
Very quiet, purring trills from marshes day and night.
Very quiet, high-pitched purring trills from marshes at night.
Very quiet continuous trills from roadsides day and night.
A rapid series of ticks followed by a buzzy trill.
Long series of double-noted, lispy pulses.
High-pitched, squeeky trills with evenly spaced ticks.
Long trains of lispy, double-noted pulses heard day/night.
Found near water. Song a series of ticks followed by a buzzy trill.
The lawn-sprinkler, a series of ticks followed by long trills.
A pleasing series of ticks and shuffling trills from wetlands.
Found near water. Song a series of ticks followed by a buzzy trill.
A beautiful purring trill from evergreens day and night.
Sputtering ticks blending into a long shuffling trill.
A powerful, rapid tick followed by a loud, grinding trill.
Coneheads
Continuous buzzy trill sounding like an electrical short.
A series of spaced, loud, buzzy trill from brush at night.
Extremely loud buzzing from roadsides at night.
Synchronized pulsing trills from wetlands at night.
Rapid, synchronized, short, trills from wetlands at night.
A continuous buzzy trill with a two-toned sound.
A continuous, smooth buzzy trill at night in wetlands.
A continuous, smooth buzzy trill at night in tidal marshes.
True Katydid
One to three raspy ch notes depending on location.
False Katydids
A measured series of raspy high-pitched clicks or zits.
The most complex of all katydid songs! Very high pitched.
A high-pitched swishy rattle heard at night.
A brief, two-parted zeee-dik! Heard at night.
A rapid series of ticks from high in trees at night.
Brief raspy rattles in groups of two – three from trees at night.
A series of quiet, lispy ticks from woodland understory.
Bush Katydids
The counting katydid. Adds one to three lisps with each song.
Two – four raspy notes. Never counts higher than four.
A single sharp tsip that may be given singly, or else in a series.
The most accomplished singer of the bush katydids.
Different songs for day and night from weedy fields.
Nearly identical to the Fork-tailed, simple tsips from trees.
Shieldbacks
A steady series of high-pitched swishy rattles.
Long series of brief swishy rattles from grasses.
Dry rattling trills from grasses and small trees.
From 5 – 15 measured, dry, swishy rattles.
High-pitched quavering buzz from grasses during the day.
Grasshoppers (Locusts)
Most commonly heard crepit-ating on sunny afternoons.
Soft, rapid raspy notes from fields during the day.
Cicadas
A piercing whine heard in the heat of the day .
A high-pitched whine lasting about 15 seconds.
Pulsating buzz sounding something like a saltshaker.
Similar to Linne’s but smooth, without the pulsations.
A heavy pulsating drone as the sun sets.
Laborious raspy buzzes from trees in the afternoon.
Loud, buzzing with pronounced pulsations.
First to sing in the morning. Crescendoing buzz.
Extended rattling trill from bottomlands.
High-pitched dissonant drone heard all day.
Extended, cricket-like trill from evergreens.
Prolonged, high-pitched, metallic buzz.
A loud droning heard mostly in the morning.
Our Insect Musicians:
Thumbnail Guide to All Species
Navigate to Species Pages:
Spring and Fall Field Cricket
Southern Wood Cricket
Southeastern Field Cricket
Eastern Striped Cricket
Japanese Burrowing Cricket
Ground Crickets (Nemobiinae):
Allard’s Ground Cricket
Carolina Ground Cricket
Confused Ground Cricket
Striped Ground Cricket
Southern Ground Cricket
Sphagnum Ground Cricket
Variegated Ground Cricket
Spotted Ground Cricket
Tinkling Ground Cricket
Cuban Ground Cricket
Tree Crickets (Oecanthinae):
Black-horned Tree Cricket
Forbes’s Tree Cricket
Broad-winged Tree Cricket
Davis’s Tree Cricket
Fast-calling Tree Cricket
Four-spotted Tree Cricket
Narrow-winged Tree Cricket
Pine Tree Cricket
Snowy Tree Cricket
Two-spotted Tree Cricket
Trigs and Bush Crickets (Eneopterinae & Trigonidiinae):
Jumping Bush Cricket
Columbian Trig
Handsome Trig
Say’s Trig
Thomas’s Trig
Slow-tinkling Trig
Mole Crickets (Gryllotalpidae):
Northern Mole Cricket
Southern Mole Cricket
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Saltmarsh Meadow Katydid
Short-winged Meadow Katydid
Slender Meadow Katydid
Woodland Meadow Katydid
Black-sided Meadow Katydid
Long-tailed Meadow Katydid
Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid
Agile Meadow Katydid
Dusky-faced Meadow Katydid
Stripe-faced Meadow Katydid
Nimble Meadow Katydid
Black-legged Meadow Katydid
Common Meadow Katydid
Gladiator Meadow Katydid
Handsome Meadow Katydid
Lesser Pine Meadow Katydid
Long-spurred Meadow Katydid
Red-headed Meadow Katydid
Coneheads (Copiphorinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Round-tipped Conehead
Nebraska Conehead
Robust Conehead
Slightly Musical Conehead
Sword-bearing Conehead
False Robust Conehead
Marsh Conehead
Black-nosed Conehead
True Katydids (Pseudophyllinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Common True Katydid
False Katydids (Phaneropterinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Clicker Round-winged Katydid
Common Virtuoso Katydid
Rattler Round-winged Katydid
Oblong-winged Katydid
Great Angle-wing
Lesser Angle-wing
Broad-winged Bush Katydid
Curved-tailed Bush Katydid
Fork-tailed Bush Katydid
Northern Bush Katydid
Texas Bush Katydid
Treetop Bush Katydid
Modest Katydid
Shield-backed Katydids (Tettigoniinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
American Shieldback
Least Shieldback
Protean Shieldback
Robust Shieldback
Roesel’s Katydid
Band-winged Grasshoppers (Oedipodinae):
Boll’s & Carolina Grasshoppers
Marsh Meadow Grasshopper
