Adult season

Late July through much of October.

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General description and context

This common, hardy, adaptable katydid can be found in a variety of habitats and its range is actually coast to coast. Their very short song is difficult to separate out from the general singing insect song texture because it is very simple, there are substantial pauses of 3-4 seconds between each “pffftt”, and the very high pitch frequency of the song can be difficult to hear.

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Similar species

The female’s ovipositor and the male’s tail plate (located at the far end of his abdomen) are distinctive because of their purple color. Only the Treetop Bush Katydid has a similar color, but they live up in the trees and may be rare. I have only seen one once (in Ashtabula County), and I believe it was knocked down from its trees in a thundershower.

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One can easily confuse the Fork-tailed’s song with the “tzip!” call of the Greater Angle-wing, and Greater Angle-wings can be in the same shrubs as Fork-taileds as well as up in trees. The Angle-wing’s calls more frequently – closer to two seconds apart than the Fork-tailed’s 3-4 seconds.

 

In this composite recording below, I've shortened the amount of time between the Fork-tailed songs so the track isn't quite as long. When you hear additional crickets singing, we've moved to the greater Angle-wing tzit calls. I think the latter is sharper, cleaner, and more percussive, but acoustics in the field would make the differences far less obvious.