This week the chirping at night has been really loud in Claremont, California. And so, I set out one night to see if I might get to the bottom of this sonic riot. Snowy tree crickets were not on my mind.

I hypothesized tree frogs chirping at the full moon. I was wrong. It did indeed turn out to be a chorus of little Oecanthus fultoni (i.e., snowy tree crickets). These guys were making all that loud music. Small size, big sound.

Per Wikipedia, American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne once observed about the song of these creatures, “If moonlight could be heard, it would sound just like that.”

And, that is about all I have to say for this short post. So, good night and — if it is summer where you are — may the crickets sing you to sleep!

(PS, if you have trouble viewing the images below, try this link: https://www.q4tk.com/2024/07/23/snowy-tree-crickets/)

A snowy tree cricket chorus

Could it be the full moon over Claremont inspiring the song?