Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Imagine standing in a white pine forest while warm rays from the sun flow over your arms, neck, and face. The trees sway gently in the wind as you close your eyes, your outer layers wrapped in a pleasant heat. The air is thick with moisture as plants breathe silently around you. In the higher branches, a sound grows loudly, radiating over the entire canopy, as if ringing out of the sun itself. Another voice cries out and then another and another, until a roaring chorus blooms over the treetops. And just as quickly as it grew, like a wave retreating from shore, it pales and fades back into the branches. White pines in Lincoln, MA The summer months allow us to experience long sunny days, that power rushing thunderstorms, cooling our neighbourhoods for a brief respite from the heat and humidity. Outdoor recreation spikes with people from all walks of life wanting to escape their homes for a date with the sun. All the while, they are serenaded by secretive musicians in the trees as...

Tik. Tik. Tik. Tik-tik-tik-tik-gigigigigigigigigigigi. Tik. Tik. Tik-tik. Gigigigigigi. A high-pitched buzz, almost imperceptible shivers from the boughs of the spruce near my window. A small insect, barely a few inches long, sits on a branch. It cranks out a tune produced by it's wings rubbing against one another. This act is called stridulation and is being performed by a creature called a bush katydid. Now whether it is a northern bush ( Scudderia septentrionalis ), or a treetop bush ( S. fasciata ), or even a Texas bush katydid ( S. texensis ), I can't be certain. The fact is that my ears, as dull and imperceptive (at least compared to other animals) as they are, picked up these small vibrations used to attract a female into the male's territory. Those of us with access to trees, meadows, or even an open backyard can experience the variety of songs produced by this annual summer symphony. Their mixed signals and sounds delight us as we rest in our beds after a lon...

As the dog days of summer trudge on, those of us in the world of adult responsibilities grind along too. We have jobs, appointment, and lives to lead regardless of how hot the weather and how inviting the sunshine is outside. Despite this, there is a familiar sound that punctuates the noise and grind that surrounds our everyday lives. Even as I've grown more and more used to life here in the city, noise still finds a way to puncture through. Recently I was listening to an episode of Roman Mars's podcast,  99% Invisible  where he discussed the difference between noise and sound. Noise is a sound or series of sounds that are annoying or disturbing to one's overall experience of the world, while a sound itself was the expulsion of air waves of a certain pitch and frequency that we recognize coming from a specific source, regardless of the impression it has on our experience of the surrounding world.  There is certainly no doubt that cities are noise centers. Rumbling tra...