A new article about the Singing Insects Monitoring Program is available now, published in the January-February 2022 issue of Legacy Magazine for nature interpretation, offered here for online reading or download. My co-authors are Negin Almassi, Dr. Carl Strang, Kathleen Soler, with illustrations by Leslie DeCourcey, and photos by Negin Almassi and Adrian Wood.
Singing insects are among the bell weather species whose presence or absence indicate ecological changes. Mostly invisible, sound and listening are the primary means available to know if they are presence and to identify which species are among the four types those are, cicadas, crickets, katydids, and grasshoppers. Their acoustic presence is also a signature of summer and early autumn in the Midwest.
Each summer I conduct a soundwalk with Dr. Carl Strang and Kathleen Soler, to promote the Singing Insects Monitoring Program. We invite listeners to tune in to the songs of summer and fall insects. In the process, listeners learn something about themselves and the insect musicians around them. It is an innovative partnership between Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks program, the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Dr. Carl Strang, author of Singing Insects of the Chicago Region, visual artist Leslie DeCourcey, and iSWOOP (Interpreters and Scientists Working on our Parks).
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