First Wing Tappers!
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2022 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioLast night, I went out in the back yard and had a fire going for three hours.
We'd had a spell without any rain, so I knew the wood was dry enough, but it was forecast to rain today & tomorrow so yesterday, I knew it was gonna be my last chance for a while.
After my afternoon victory identifying the leaf tappers and chick bugs as, angle wing and fork tailed katydids, I was in the mood to go for it.
And I was rewarded by hearing the year's first angle wing tapping up in the trees, while I was out there drinking a few beers, and recording a few TikToks!
I'd been so confounded the past two weeks at hearing the chick bugs (fork tails) begin so early, and not yet hearing any sign of the leaf tappers (angle wings) for so long after everybody else was on the scene.
--<>--
In my imagination, the chick bugs were beetles... not related to orthopterans in any way! So I kinda presumed the timing of their appearance on the soundscape would not be related in any way to that of crickets.
I expected them to show up in late August, as just... inconsequential interlopers, late to the scene, who didn't contribute much.
Meanwhile, I had this mental picture of the leaf tappers as being like stick bugs, I guess. I always pictured them being these long skinny guys who somehow tapped on the leaves.
And I dunno why, but I expected them to maybe show up before the crickets!
--<>--
But last night, after finding out they're both orthopterans, and after finally having seen their photos, it all made perfect sense!
Check tails (i've decided to call them check tails) are a lot smaller... close to cricket size. So naturally they'd hit adulthood around the same time as their orthopteran cousins.
But wing tappers are THICK boys!.. the length of praying mantises, but fatter! They are big! And knowing that, I'm now a little surprised I heard one as early as August 2nd!
------------{=0=}------------
Tonight, I did my first dusk recording, under sub-optimal conditions... it was partly cloudy at sunset, so they weren't as lively as they are when they can see that blazing ball of light go below the horizon.
I listened back, and for a while it didn't seem too bad... no leaf blowers or weed wackers going. But, the damn dobermans down the block went ballistic right as dusk gave way to night and destroyed the take.
--<>--
Last year I started doing dusk recordings on August 4th, but it took me seven tries over fifteen days to get a clean one. Half those days it rained, or was too cloudy to bother.
So this year, I'm fully prepared to do a fake dusk, edited together out of the best parts of seven to ten dusk takes. I'm taking notes for each night on what's good and what's bad in the takes.
--<>--
Also this year, I'm gonna try and get the S8 as high up in the air as possible for those takes.
Today I fully extended the tripod legs, which put it about seven feet off the ground. But later on, I discovered that the central stalk of the tripod can actually come out and telescopes into a, "monopod!"
If I fully extend the monopod, then set it inside the tripod base, with some kind of shim to hold it steady, I can get the S8 up to about ten feet over the ground.
The closer to the canopy the better, for getting that cicada signal... and the wing tapper signal too, once they truly populate.
--<>--
This is kind of a week in limbo, because neither the field crickets, nor the wing tappers are up to speed yet, in the back yard. And we're gonna be getting some rain, supposedly, which always dampens the soundscape for a night.
So maybe my best use of the next few days is to see if I can devise a way to get the S8 even higher... without spending any money?
I do have some long lengths of spare PVC down in the shop that's fairly narrow. maybe I could rig up something that fits into the tripod, but holds the monopod up a good six extra feet?
I really wanna get up into those branches to hear what it's like from their perspective up there, where they're all calling to each other.
Something like that... plus the basket I already made to hover the S8 just over the grass for the field crickets... could make for some pretty amazing final tracks, if I feathered from down in the grass, up into the trees, and back down, a couple times over an hour!
°¦}
We'd had a spell without any rain, so I knew the wood was dry enough, but it was forecast to rain today & tomorrow so yesterday, I knew it was gonna be my last chance for a while.
After my afternoon victory identifying the leaf tappers and chick bugs as, angle wing and fork tailed katydids, I was in the mood to go for it.
And I was rewarded by hearing the year's first angle wing tapping up in the trees, while I was out there drinking a few beers, and recording a few TikToks!
I'd been so confounded the past two weeks at hearing the chick bugs (fork tails) begin so early, and not yet hearing any sign of the leaf tappers (angle wings) for so long after everybody else was on the scene.
In my imagination, the chick bugs were beetles... not related to orthopterans in any way! So I kinda presumed the timing of their appearance on the soundscape would not be related in any way to that of crickets.
I expected them to show up in late August, as just... inconsequential interlopers, late to the scene, who didn't contribute much.
Meanwhile, I had this mental picture of the leaf tappers as being like stick bugs, I guess. I always pictured them being these long skinny guys who somehow tapped on the leaves.
And I dunno why, but I expected them to maybe show up before the crickets!
But last night, after finding out they're both orthopterans, and after finally having seen their photos, it all made perfect sense!
Check tails (i've decided to call them check tails) are a lot smaller... close to cricket size. So naturally they'd hit adulthood around the same time as their orthopteran cousins.
But wing tappers are THICK boys!.. the length of praying mantises, but fatter! They are big! And knowing that, I'm now a little surprised I heard one as early as August 2nd!
Tonight, I did my first dusk recording, under sub-optimal conditions... it was partly cloudy at sunset, so they weren't as lively as they are when they can see that blazing ball of light go below the horizon.
I listened back, and for a while it didn't seem too bad... no leaf blowers or weed wackers going. But, the damn dobermans down the block went ballistic right as dusk gave way to night and destroyed the take.
Last year I started doing dusk recordings on August 4th, but it took me seven tries over fifteen days to get a clean one. Half those days it rained, or was too cloudy to bother.
So this year, I'm fully prepared to do a fake dusk, edited together out of the best parts of seven to ten dusk takes. I'm taking notes for each night on what's good and what's bad in the takes.
Also this year, I'm gonna try and get the S8 as high up in the air as possible for those takes.
Today I fully extended the tripod legs, which put it about seven feet off the ground. But later on, I discovered that the central stalk of the tripod can actually come out and telescopes into a, "monopod!"
If I fully extend the monopod, then set it inside the tripod base, with some kind of shim to hold it steady, I can get the S8 up to about ten feet over the ground.
The closer to the canopy the better, for getting that cicada signal... and the wing tapper signal too, once they truly populate.
This is kind of a week in limbo, because neither the field crickets, nor the wing tappers are up to speed yet, in the back yard. And we're gonna be getting some rain, supposedly, which always dampens the soundscape for a night.
So maybe my best use of the next few days is to see if I can devise a way to get the S8 even higher... without spending any money?
I do have some long lengths of spare PVC down in the shop that's fairly narrow. maybe I could rig up something that fits into the tripod, but holds the monopod up a good six extra feet?
I really wanna get up into those branches to hear what it's like from their perspective up there, where they're all calling to each other.
Something like that... plus the basket I already made to hover the S8 just over the grass for the field crickets... could make for some pretty amazing final tracks, if I feathered from down in the grass, up into the trees, and back down, a couple times over an hour!
°¦}
