"dt" wrote in message
...
John wrote:

Hey group..
New to the country and have something I want to share and see if anyone
knows what they are..Recently we have noticed at night there is some sort
of bug in the trees which makes a very loud "chattering" sound..There is
thousands of them, and the sound is nearly deafening at night..I know they
are not cicadas as they don't make noise at night, and these guys seem to
burst their sound in about one second bursts..Well, last night we saw
one..One lit on the kitchen window and sounded like it was in the room..It
was a large bug, looked like a big fat green grasshopper with a large
body..It appeared to have good eye sight as when we approached the window
it fell silant. We stood very still and it finally started up again..It
appears to have large lime green wings which it appears to rub together to
make this sound...We are out in Bastrop county in the country....

Any clues? They are very odd bugs..Even wierder than the 6" long walking
sticks we have been inundated with...

Thanks everyone!!
John
John, sounds like you've got katydids:
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg15.html . Saw my first one of this
year a couple of nights ago.

DT
(far western Bastrop county, off FM969)

http://www.thehungersite.com/


Yes indeedy!!!
That is them..First I looked at the link you sent and most of those look
like grasshoppers but then I looked at another site and sure enough, there
it was..We sat outside last night on the screen porch and one was walking
across the screen doing his noise and wow is it loud..Just imagine thousands
of them going at it..Really wierd too, my cousin was over and she lives in
Austin and they are not so common in town..Just as it was getting dark, the
first one started..She said "Is that your noisy but?" and I told her "Just
wait"...In less than half hour the chourus begun..She couldn't believe
it....
So..Do we get to hear these noisy critters all summer or are they short
lived like the walking sticks?
Thanks a million!!!

John
Bastrop county, FM1209 and HWY71