If I had to guess at its identity, I'd say it's an oblong-winged katydid (Amblycorypha oblongifolia) Here's a nice video of a katydid of this sort stridulating. There's a nice feeling of a shift change in the insect chorus, with the cicadas making a racket during the daytime and the crickets and katydids playing throughout the night.
As a gardener, I suppose vegetarians such as Katie are the enemy. Their luminous beaty makes it impossible to think of them as pests. I always hope some insectivorous friend is in for a treat. That invasive nuissance, the European brown snail, is the only creature I am at constant war with. The newt population moderates the plague of slugs, but the imported snails don't have enough native predators. That's my job. No, I don't eat them, although they are the same species one is served at restaurants. I torture them with zinc-based baits. They die a lingering death from malnutrition. Snails bring out my inner psychopath.
ReplyDeleteTheir chatter is interesting, and they are pretty.
ReplyDeleteI hate the way they chew up the mountain laurel leaves, though.
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What do they taste like?
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't eat them, although they are the same species one is served at restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty jealous now- I'd be cooking those suckers like nobody's business.
I hate the way they chew up the mountain laurel leaves, though.
They are in cahoots with the deer.
What do they taste like?
I've only eaten the smaller ones, and that was a long time ago. I can't remember.