Episode 197: Night Chorus with the Queen of the Night
Recorded on August 26, 2026 on the sleeping porch, this is the sound of a late-summer night chorus while the Night-blooming Cereus, also known as Queen of the Night, is in bloom. Insect musicians chirp, click, zip, rattle and lisp through in the humid landscape as the flower opens for the night. Though the Night-blooming Cereus is a tropical plant, it has an interesting place in Southern culture. In the 1930s, Eudora Welty, one of the recordist’s favorite authors, formed the Night-Blooming Cereus Club, gathering with friends for late-night watch parties on her porch when the plant came into bloom.