Carolina Grasshopper
(Dissosteira carolina)

Description: Large, stone-coloured grasshopper with short antennae and large wings. Hind wings, only visible in flight, are black with a pale yellow border. Escape flight is fluttery and the path is zig-zaggy.

Habitat: Quite common in fields, dry meadows, and best seen when flushed off dirt trails.

Length: 30 mm

Adults: June - October

Tree Cricket
(Oecanthus sp.)

Description: Pale green, slender cricket with translucent wings and long antennae. Males have wider wings than females, and use them to sing to attract female. Song is a continuous trill. Docile and easily observed close-up. Adults are predators on aphids and small caterpillars.

Habitat: Usually encountered in vegetation, such as trees, shrubs and tall wildflowers.

Length: 15 mm

Adults: June - October

Field Cricket
(Gryllus pennsylvanicus)

Description: Black, robust cricket which has an oversized, helmet-shaped head. Adult males sing day and night in late summer and early fall.

Habitat: Common in dry meadows, fields, roadsides.

Length: 20 mm

Adults: July - October

Dogday cicada
(Tibicen canicularis)

Description: Large black insect with transparent wings, prominent, bulging black eyes. Normally heard rather than seen in late summer when the adult males sing. The loud song is described as a buzzing or whining which rises and falls in intensity. In flight, the wings clatter noisily, and they appear top-heavy.

Habitat: Fields, woodland edges.

Length: 30 mm

Adults: July - October