Unexpected soundings and sightings

A newly emerged Cicada on tree at Cedar Hill
Photo by M. Winn --August, 2005


Yesterday morning at 7:55 Rebekah Creshkoff heard a Cicada singing at the south end of the Loch [ in the North Woods.] This seems exceptionally early for the first cicada sound to be heard in Central Park. Rebekah's first singing cicada of 2008, for instance, was on July 9. I usually start hearing the shrill sounds of cicadas during the second half of July.

Before the early cicada yesterday morning, Rebekah had two other unusual "soundings," both late rather than early. First at 7:31, a Blackpoll singing somewhere on the great Hill. Then at 8:13, an Indigo Bunting in the Wildflower Meadow. Both these birds should be on their breeding grounds by now -- should have been there two weeks ago!

Most unusual of all, at 7:45 she saw a chipmunk "on a slope downtown of the High Meadow." Another chipmunk sighting! Could it be the same one reported here on 6/11?