By Carol Lindell
Volunteer Jordan Jones sits at the mouth Tooth Cave and listens to a Black crested Titmouse (click here) call while waiting for sunset May 16. The biologists and volunteers count crickets for two hours after dark every three months.
Thirty minutes. Nothing yet. (click here)
Sitting in the dark, a biologist and a volunteer hold flashlights that shine red light while they stare down into the opening of a small cave.
Finally: “There’s a cricket nymph,” says Travis Clark, a natural resources specialist with Travis County. “Those are sneaky dudes. He went right underneath this rock.” Then, shortly, he points to that same minuscule critter with long antennae as it crawls out. “You see that?”
Now the number totals one lone cricket.
Then it’s back to waiting and chatting while scanning the area around a steel covering with wide slats atop the cave entrance, roughly 2 feet by 2 feet. So far, it seems like a slow start for cricket counting at Tooth Cave, part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
Turns out the number of crickets — and whether it’s up or down — plays a role in monitoring the health of the caves on the preserve....
