Dog Resolution, Block Sounding, & Theory
Thursday, July 28th, 2022 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioSo, early today, I called Animal Control to report the new neighbors next door for leaving their two little dogs outside in a plasic dog carrier for several days and nights, as per yesterday's entry.
The woman on the phone said they'd already reported to that address earlier today, and the issue was resolved. I asked her if she could tell me what happened, but she was not at liberty to share the information.
However, there was a noticeably happy tone in her voice, after she'd looked up the file and told me it was resolved.
I went into the back yard to check, and sure enough, the plastic dog carrier that had been there for days was gone.
So, either they got the neighbors to take the dogs inside, or they took them to a shelter.
I'm hoping it was the latter!
Either way, the issue was addressed, and I'm assuming the reason they'd already visited before my call was because they'd responded to last night's email, first thing this morning. If so, good on Animal Control for checking their email!
------------{=0=}------------
With that off my mind, tonight, after dark, I went into the back yard to sound check the crickets, and then took another walk around the block with the S8, to stop and record anything interesting on the journey.
However... moron that I am... early on, I fell victim to the oldest rookie mistake in the book, and thought I hit pause when I didn't!
Thus... I kept on recording while I was walking... but then stopped recording whenever I stood still to get a sound clip!
I could punch myself!
--<>--
Clearly, the thing to do is just hit record once... start walking... then stand still when I hear something interesting. Then edit out the walking parts, back at home. I'll try that tomorrow night.
--<>--
Nevertheless, the report isn't too much different from a few days ago.
Still not much going on in the back yards... some chick bugs, and now a few mature bush crickets, but no field crickets back there yet, and still no leaf tappers.
Out on the streets, around the block... there are still a lot of juvenille crickets, but the number of adults has been going up the past few days.
There were a couple spots where it sounded almost like the full orchestra, of adult field and bush crickets, with distant mole crickets, and chick bugs. All that was missing were the leaf tappers.
But the majority of the block sounding was, like I said, more juvenilles than adults.
It actually sounded a LOT like it does in October! And with it being a cool 68F out there tonight, it kinda felt like early October too.
------------{=0=}------------
This whole exercise, in late July, has been very surprising.
I never before knew that it starts with all nymphs... or that it starts on the streets!
I had no idea the chick bugs got started so early in the season.
I'm shocked that the leaf tappers aren't here yet.
And I'm surprised at how long it's taking for the adults to appear... and how silent the back yards remain this late in July!
------------{=0=}------------
THEORY TIME...
Given that they all began hatching last April, the size of fruit flies, it seems odd they would prefer the street parkings now, to the back yards. I mean, all of them must know the whole of the territory by now!
We know that there is a dynamic of staggered hatching.
We know, because we have that distinct pitch difference between the juvenilles and the adults. And it starts with all juvenilles, but ten days later, when they've molted into adults... they're mixed in with a bunch of new juvenilles, who are more numerous.
And when those ones molt into adults, I assume there will be even more new juvenilles behind them... who are even more numerous.
I would assume that cycle ends when the last of the April hatchlings hit adulthood, and then, for a while, there aren't any juvenilles. And we'll come back to that below.
--<>--
But right now, we're asking why all these April hatchlings... who've all been around for three months now, at their various sizes, exploring the entire territory, start gravitating to the street parkings as soon as they get their first pair of singing wings, and their first inklings of romance?
--<>--
I think it's because they (the field crickets) do prefer to do the wooing by moonlight, and starlight. And for them, the street looks like a big Milky Way, with a lot of false moons.
And I've said that much before, but what I'm now guessing happens is, the playing field on the streets gets too crowded... forcing more and more field crickets into the back yards.
This is a game of acoustics!
Street parking real estate might be nice, but if you can't be heard above the din, you've got to move it back into the boondocks!
--<>--
But that process can't continue to be as gradual as it's been this past week! I'm now assuming there HAS to be some kind of boom coming soon!.. where the numbers all hitting, adulthood, just blow up overnight, and the whole game changes.
And we'll see.
------------{=0=}------------
Okay, back to the presumed period where there are no more new juvenilles, and everybody on the playing field is an adult.
There is a finite number of April/May hatchlings, so there will be a finite number of adult crickets very soon.
And while it's true, that in the summer, the first eggs laid can hatch two weeks later... those brand new summer nymphs still have to grow up!.. which takes around three months!
This would explain why I've only heard juvenille crickets with their high pitched chirps, before, in October and November.
I've never paid attention in July before. And I've never noticed any in August or September. So I would assume... a boom is coming soon, where they'll all hit adulthood, and it will be nothing but adults until October.
------------{=0=}------------
Meanwhile, however, the bush crickets, are already getting established in those darker back yards, which is in keeping with my theory that they like the deep dark.
Thus, as the field crickets are forced off the streets, and into the darker back yards, they'll still continue to prefer the better lit spaces, where bush crickets aren't monopolizing the acoustic bandwidth.
If all this speculation is right, then the combination of landscaping my back yard, over he past couple years, together with lighting it well this year, should result in a more robust turnout for field crickets back there, than I've seen before.
------------{=0=}------------
That's all I've got for tonight...
Other than I'm still waiting on and wondering about those leaf tappers.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
The woman on the phone said they'd already reported to that address earlier today, and the issue was resolved. I asked her if she could tell me what happened, but she was not at liberty to share the information.
However, there was a noticeably happy tone in her voice, after she'd looked up the file and told me it was resolved.
I went into the back yard to check, and sure enough, the plastic dog carrier that had been there for days was gone.
So, either they got the neighbors to take the dogs inside, or they took them to a shelter.
I'm hoping it was the latter!
Either way, the issue was addressed, and I'm assuming the reason they'd already visited before my call was because they'd responded to last night's email, first thing this morning. If so, good on Animal Control for checking their email!
With that off my mind, tonight, after dark, I went into the back yard to sound check the crickets, and then took another walk around the block with the S8, to stop and record anything interesting on the journey.
However... moron that I am... early on, I fell victim to the oldest rookie mistake in the book, and thought I hit pause when I didn't!
Thus... I kept on recording while I was walking... but then stopped recording whenever I stood still to get a sound clip!
I could punch myself!
Clearly, the thing to do is just hit record once... start walking... then stand still when I hear something interesting. Then edit out the walking parts, back at home. I'll try that tomorrow night.
Nevertheless, the report isn't too much different from a few days ago.
Still not much going on in the back yards... some chick bugs, and now a few mature bush crickets, but no field crickets back there yet, and still no leaf tappers.
Out on the streets, around the block... there are still a lot of juvenille crickets, but the number of adults has been going up the past few days.
There were a couple spots where it sounded almost like the full orchestra, of adult field and bush crickets, with distant mole crickets, and chick bugs. All that was missing were the leaf tappers.
But the majority of the block sounding was, like I said, more juvenilles than adults.
It actually sounded a LOT like it does in October! And with it being a cool 68F out there tonight, it kinda felt like early October too.
This whole exercise, in late July, has been very surprising.
I never before knew that it starts with all nymphs... or that it starts on the streets!
I had no idea the chick bugs got started so early in the season.
I'm shocked that the leaf tappers aren't here yet.
And I'm surprised at how long it's taking for the adults to appear... and how silent the back yards remain this late in July!
THEORY TIME...
Given that they all began hatching last April, the size of fruit flies, it seems odd they would prefer the street parkings now, to the back yards. I mean, all of them must know the whole of the territory by now!
We know that there is a dynamic of staggered hatching.
We know, because we have that distinct pitch difference between the juvenilles and the adults. And it starts with all juvenilles, but ten days later, when they've molted into adults... they're mixed in with a bunch of new juvenilles, who are more numerous.
And when those ones molt into adults, I assume there will be even more new juvenilles behind them... who are even more numerous.
I would assume that cycle ends when the last of the April hatchlings hit adulthood, and then, for a while, there aren't any juvenilles. And we'll come back to that below.
But right now, we're asking why all these April hatchlings... who've all been around for three months now, at their various sizes, exploring the entire territory, start gravitating to the street parkings as soon as they get their first pair of singing wings, and their first inklings of romance?
I think it's because they (the field crickets) do prefer to do the wooing by moonlight, and starlight. And for them, the street looks like a big Milky Way, with a lot of false moons.
And I've said that much before, but what I'm now guessing happens is, the playing field on the streets gets too crowded... forcing more and more field crickets into the back yards.
This is a game of acoustics!
Street parking real estate might be nice, but if you can't be heard above the din, you've got to move it back into the boondocks!
But that process can't continue to be as gradual as it's been this past week! I'm now assuming there HAS to be some kind of boom coming soon!.. where the numbers all hitting, adulthood, just blow up overnight, and the whole game changes.
And we'll see.
Okay, back to the presumed period where there are no more new juvenilles, and everybody on the playing field is an adult.
There is a finite number of April/May hatchlings, so there will be a finite number of adult crickets very soon.
And while it's true, that in the summer, the first eggs laid can hatch two weeks later... those brand new summer nymphs still have to grow up!.. which takes around three months!
This would explain why I've only heard juvenille crickets with their high pitched chirps, before, in October and November.
I've never paid attention in July before. And I've never noticed any in August or September. So I would assume... a boom is coming soon, where they'll all hit adulthood, and it will be nothing but adults until October.
Meanwhile, however, the bush crickets, are already getting established in those darker back yards, which is in keeping with my theory that they like the deep dark.
Thus, as the field crickets are forced off the streets, and into the darker back yards, they'll still continue to prefer the better lit spaces, where bush crickets aren't monopolizing the acoustic bandwidth.
If all this speculation is right, then the combination of landscaping my back yard, over he past couple years, together with lighting it well this year, should result in a more robust turnout for field crickets back there, than I've seen before.
That's all I've got for tonight...
Other than I'm still waiting on and wondering about those leaf tappers.
°¦}
