Lugh's Day Eve
Sunday, July 31st, 2022 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI was puttering around in the back yard this afternoon, a few hours before sundown, checking up on things out there, and I had an idea for a quick little project.
Last year I'd collected a bunch of rubble and rocks from around the yard and piled it by the back door. But last year I'd also noticed that field crickets liked to hang out in that rubble pile, which also happened to be well lit.
So I grabbed my wheelbarrow out of the shed, and transported all that rubble to the base of the SCOP.
--<>--
What's the SCOP? Can't believe I haven't covered this before, but, below is the SCOP...
It's an old wood jungle gym in the middle of the back yard, that I've repurposed for field recording. The swings and the slide are gone. I'm hanging my wind chimes from it.
I mounted an old anemometer to it, to eyeball the wind speed. And the new flood lamp for the back yard shines right on it.
SCOP stands for, Studio for the Capture of Outdoor Phenomena.
And today I had the idea to create a rock garden at the base of the tower...
That area of dirt inside the tower base doesn't grow much, because it's in the shade, and it's out of the way of the lawn mower. But it is in just that zone of the yard I want my field crickets... far enough back that the noise from the street, and the neighbor's condenser fans aren't a problem.
The idea here is that field crickets seem to like a bit of rocky terrain mixed in with their grassy, and partially illuminated landscape. And this is the kind of rock pile they like, because it's got a lot of flat sheets of limestone.
They seem to like getting under planes of rock like that.
The hope is, as they migrate into the back yard this coming week, they'll adopt this new rock garden as a home base, and maybe hang out nearby it at night to sing.
If it doesn't work... well, it cost zero dollars, and is still a bit of a landscaping improvement that won't cause me any headaches.
------------{=0=}------------
In other news, last night and tonight I did get out there in the yard, and do a bit of quick block sounding in the neighborhood.
What it sounds like is happening, is that as more adult field crickets begin to populate the street parkings... more juvenilles are heading into the back yards!
This would make sense, because adult male field crickets are known to be pretty territorial, and aggressive toward one another. So if street parking real estate is the most coveted... and they're surrounded by little runts... they're likely gonna bully those little runts out into the nether regions.
--<>--
So, what I expect to play out, this first week of August, is that the back yard will start to populate with juvenille field crickets, and then, they'll all get to that final molt and hit adulthood... and then we're off to the races with the cricket recordings!
Meanwhile, the bush crickets aren't so bad right now. Still just a few back there. I suppose they'll explode too, at some point... but maybe the same lighting I'm hoping to lure field crickets with, is gonna cause the bush crickets to shy away, and find darker spaces with more overgrowth.
We'll have to see about that. But I've got my S8 basket ready to get it low to the grass and get a strong field cricket signal, even if the bush crickets are out there screaming, come mid-august.
------------{=0=}------------
By and large, this new generation of adult field crickets does sound pretty lively! Everywhere I walk around the neighborhood, they're chirps are quite snappy, and articulate!
They don't seem at all like the lazy brood of 2021.
So, hopefully I'll be recording some great cricket hours in 2022.
But that last section of the orchestra... the leaf tappers... STILL have yet to appear.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Last year I'd collected a bunch of rubble and rocks from around the yard and piled it by the back door. But last year I'd also noticed that field crickets liked to hang out in that rubble pile, which also happened to be well lit.
So I grabbed my wheelbarrow out of the shed, and transported all that rubble to the base of the SCOP.
What's the SCOP? Can't believe I haven't covered this before, but, below is the SCOP...
It's an old wood jungle gym in the middle of the back yard, that I've repurposed for field recording. The swings and the slide are gone. I'm hanging my wind chimes from it.
I mounted an old anemometer to it, to eyeball the wind speed. And the new flood lamp for the back yard shines right on it.
SCOP stands for, Studio for the Capture of Outdoor Phenomena.
And today I had the idea to create a rock garden at the base of the tower...
That area of dirt inside the tower base doesn't grow much, because it's in the shade, and it's out of the way of the lawn mower. But it is in just that zone of the yard I want my field crickets... far enough back that the noise from the street, and the neighbor's condenser fans aren't a problem.
The idea here is that field crickets seem to like a bit of rocky terrain mixed in with their grassy, and partially illuminated landscape. And this is the kind of rock pile they like, because it's got a lot of flat sheets of limestone.
They seem to like getting under planes of rock like that.
The hope is, as they migrate into the back yard this coming week, they'll adopt this new rock garden as a home base, and maybe hang out nearby it at night to sing.
If it doesn't work... well, it cost zero dollars, and is still a bit of a landscaping improvement that won't cause me any headaches.
In other news, last night and tonight I did get out there in the yard, and do a bit of quick block sounding in the neighborhood.
What it sounds like is happening, is that as more adult field crickets begin to populate the street parkings... more juvenilles are heading into the back yards!
This would make sense, because adult male field crickets are known to be pretty territorial, and aggressive toward one another. So if street parking real estate is the most coveted... and they're surrounded by little runts... they're likely gonna bully those little runts out into the nether regions.
So, what I expect to play out, this first week of August, is that the back yard will start to populate with juvenille field crickets, and then, they'll all get to that final molt and hit adulthood... and then we're off to the races with the cricket recordings!
Meanwhile, the bush crickets aren't so bad right now. Still just a few back there. I suppose they'll explode too, at some point... but maybe the same lighting I'm hoping to lure field crickets with, is gonna cause the bush crickets to shy away, and find darker spaces with more overgrowth.
We'll have to see about that. But I've got my S8 basket ready to get it low to the grass and get a strong field cricket signal, even if the bush crickets are out there screaming, come mid-august.
By and large, this new generation of adult field crickets does sound pretty lively! Everywhere I walk around the neighborhood, they're chirps are quite snappy, and articulate!
They don't seem at all like the lazy brood of 2021.
So, hopefully I'll be recording some great cricket hours in 2022.
But that last section of the orchestra... the leaf tappers... STILL have yet to appear.
°¦}
