Episode 95: Swamp Cicadas & Summer Songbirds in the Wet Prairie

Recorded on June 19, 2025 in a wet prairie remnant near Sardis Lake, this is the sound of summer settling in after nearly an inch and a half of rain fell in just 24 hours. As the summer sun returns, swamp cicadas (also called morning cicadas) fill the air with their crescendoing, shimmering buzz, joined by the rhythmic chirp of crickets and the steady trickle of an ephemeral stream winding through blooming stands of American germander and blue mud plantain. This is the sound of a wet summer morning—lush, lively and full of motion.

Birdsong rises from all directions—Yellow-breasted Chat, White-eyed Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Cardinal, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Prairie Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, American Crow and Blue Jay. The distant sound of a single car passing along a gravel road briefly brushes the edge of the soundscape.