This one to two inch green leaf looking Orthoptera order member (also includes grasshoppers, mantis, crickets and walking sticks) is a part of the "singing insects".  Katydids are in the long-horned grasshoppers family the Tettigoniidae that are divided into several subfamilies of katydids. 
 
The late summer night choir is about to have a new member.  The present members include the cicadas (not locust which is a folklore misnomer), crickets and grasshoppers.  As a side note, if you count the number of chirps a cricket makes in 15 seconds and add 40 you will be very close to the air temperature at that time.

As violin-mimicking virtuoso, the katydid makes their sound by rubbing a scraper, which is the sharp edge of their front wing against a file found on the rough edge on the lower wing.  This is known as stridulating and the result of this action is the chirp of the cricket or the familiar katydid sound. 
 
You are probably about to wonder why there is all of this ruckus on warm summer nights.  Well it is all about love.  The male katydid is the main singer in this noisy chorus.  There are some species that have the female giving a response to the amorous interlude of the male.  I am not sure of the exact purpose of the response.  It could be, hello I like you or please "bug off"?  The male starts to sing from a perch of vegetation as darkness falls.  He will sing near the ground to high up in trees.  The female's foreleg mounted ears directs her movement to the loudest singing male and mating occurs.
(Hmmm, could there be a similar throw back here that causes the same human gender to go gaga at rock concerts.)  She will then lay her fertilized eggs in a slit made by her ovipositor in vegetation or lay them in the ground.  An interesting research item is that the female can recognize her male counter part only when they are at the same temperature.
 
Enjoy the creator's gift of late summer night sounds. A sound to me as young boy that meant school was about to start.
 
Hey someone has answered the hunter's fire question in my prairie article. Congratulations go to Susan Rader of Kenton who submitted the following answer, "Is the answer:  burning large areas of grass, mountains, etc. to drive animals to a smaller unburned area, so it was easier to kill them for food and for easier hunting?" The hunter, usually a Native American or mountain man would set a circle fire in the prairie stay in the middle and dispatch the animal. They would cover themselves with a wet buffalo robe as the fire went over them. Needless to say that was very risky business. I once read a story of a mountain man that tried this method. He was purported to have said, as he stood with a smoldering beard and hair, "That is the last time I try that." 
 
For next time:  What insect, starting this month, will be migrating all the way to Mexico? We went to Mammoth Cave this summer and an interpreted stated that we have lost 85% of this insect. It is due to legal and illegal lumbering in Mexico and the destruction of milkweed up north.
 
This months Non-Consumptive Wildlife Conservation Award goes to Betsy Kreidler. Betsy is a local author of "Using Greenery, Gardens, and Nature With Aging and Special Populations".  Her efforts in her own backyard, her book, community work and garden club work qualify her for this month's award.  Congratulations Betsy.

Nature is as Nature Does! 
Take Care Mr. B