tuning in to the insect philharmonic
“can you hear the end of the daytime insect? that’s the cicada. but i’m hearing crickets in the background, too. and just listen for a second, listen to how many different sounds you can hear.” that’s allison beall of the marshlands conservancy, a wildlife sanctuary in rye, new york. she led a twilight walk through the preserve on september 5th.
“there’s a wonderful event that’s about to take place, on september 11th. there’s going to be a 'cricket crawl,' where people are going to go out and listen for the sounds of seven crickets and katydids, angle-winged katydids, and coneheads and various other night insects that are singing. and you can go to a web site, and you can go out into your own backyard and listen for the sounds and actually be part of this scientific count. so all of the sounds are on the internet, you can listen, you can see the insect close-up, and you can hear the sounds, and then you can send in the data from your own backyard.”
the web site is www.discoverlife.org/cricket or just google “cricket crawl.” the official count is taking place in the new york city metropolitan area, but anyone can get a new appreciation for the tiny wildlife producing nature’s nocturne.
“okay, so we are just about at the end of this walk, and i want to tell you something. it has not anything to do with this walk, this is called a crepuscular walk. it was just a trick, it was a trick to get you to go outside in your own habitat and to listen for the same things that have been in your backyard or in your neighborhood all along and you just haven’t paid any attention to them. so here’s what i recommend. you go out and you get a flashlight, and at eight o’clock go out and follow the sounds that you’ve heard here tonight. do you realize how many different species of crickets and katydids and grasshoppers there are? and your job is to find them.”
聆听昆虫爱乐乐团交响曲
“你能听到白天昆虫停止鸣叫吗？那是蝉。不过我也能听到其间蟋蟀的声音。只要听一秒钟，看看你能听到多少种不同的声音。”说话的人是allison beall，她在湿地保护地（marshlands conservancy）工作，这个野生动物保护区位于纽约拉伊（rye）。
“在9月11日要开展一项很不错的活动。这个活动叫 ‘蟋蟀爬行日’ (cricket crawl), 在这个活动中人们会走出家门去聆听七种蟋蟀以及蝈蝈儿、角翼蝈蝈儿、松果头蝈蝈儿以及其它夜间昆虫的歌唱。你可以上网听，还可以走到你自家的后院去听，这 样你实际上就参与到了这个科技活动中来。所有这些声音都在网上，你可以欣赏。你还可以看到这些昆虫的特写镜头，你可以听到它们的声音，同时你可以把你在后 院听到的声音发送到网上。”网址是：www.discoverlife.org/cricket ，或者你可以用google搜索“蟋蟀爬行日。”虽然正式活动在纽约市区举行，但是对这种小巧野生动物所产生的天籁之音，任何人都能以新的方式欣赏。
“好了，我们的散步就要结束了，我想告诉你一些东西。这和散步没有任何关系，这个散步叫做黄昏漫步。这只是一个小小的花招，目的是让你从你自己所居住的地 方走出来，倾听这些昆虫的声音，其实这些昆虫一直就在你的后院里，或者就在你居住的周围，只是你根本没有注意到而已。我的建议是：你走出去，带上手电筒。 在8点钟的时候走出去，跟随你今晚刚刚听过的声音。你注意有多少种不同的蟋蟀、蝈蝈儿以及蚂蚱了吗？你的任务就是把它们找出来。”