Listening for phenology

Learning to listen for and interpret sounds is one way to connect with your environment.

Prepare your ear to detect some of the sounds below. With experience, a keen listener can learn the sequence of sounds specific to their location.

Dog-day cicadas (genus Neotibicen) drone like a power saw. Every summer, these large insects emerge from the soil, shed their larval exoskeletons, and live briefly in their winged adult form. Only the males sing. In June, you may hear just one or two on a hot day. Cicada numbers and noise levels peak in August and then diminish through September and early October. (Minnesota’s cicada’s are annual, in contrast to “periodic cicadas” which emerge in synchronized broods every thirteen or seventeen years in the southeast US.)

Profile for dog-day cicada (genus Neotibicen)

It’s dusk. Overhead, you hear the loud, monosyllabic, nasal-toned “peent” of a common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor). If you can find this bird in the darkening sky, look for white markings on the underside of its long narrow wings. Common nighthawks hunt for flying insects at the edges of daylight, the so-called “crepuscular periods”. Listen for them between May and August.

Profile for common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)

A loud and clear-toned song dominates many Minnesota soundscapes from ~January through ~June. It's the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), once called the Virginia nightingale. Like all birdsong, it’s an acoustic clue that these birds are actively selecting mates, setting up territories, or defending territories from rivals. Because cardinals are non-migratory, they start courtship activities before birds that fly in from southern latitudes. Usually by some time in July, the cardinal song subsides, signaling the end of the breeding season.

During the months when they’re not singing, you can still hear cardinals making short, high-pitched calls to keep in contact or communicate warnings.

Profile for northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)