Not far north of Ballarat - around Clunes, Newstead and Castlemaine, for example - the calls of cicadas have been numerous and prominent.

They also tend to be more common in parts of Geelong and Melbourne than they are in the suburbs of Ballarat and in the Ballarat district.

Cicadas are more numerous in milder parts of Australia, especially up the east coast to Sydney and beyond. In western Victoria we have relatively few species, mostly small, but a few larger.

A report earlier this month mentioned numerous cicada shells and holes around the impressive large Tasmanian blue gum in Ballarat's Botanical Gardens.

The accompanying photo was taken there. It shows a 25mm fresh specimen of probably the golden-haired cicada, or golden-haired firetail, which eventually darkens to an almost black insect.

The holes from which cicadas had emerged from the ground a month ago were obvious on the cleared paths nearby, and they extended to beyond the dripline of the large spreading tree.

The empty cases from which the cicadas had emerged were present on the big tree's trunk and on nearby shrubs, rocks and other vertical surfaces, with both the holes and the cases indicating a prolific emergence of the insects late in December and early in January.

Cicada adults feed on plant sap, using their piercing, sucking mouthparts.

Smooth-barked eucalypts - which they can pierce more readily than the rougher-barked stringybarks and peppermints - seem to attract them, as evidenced by their appearance around the smooth-branched blue gum.

Cicadas are often found in and around river red gums, which have similar bark, but a check of some mature river red gums in the North Gardens reserve showed no cicada activity at all.

Some of the smaller cicada species suck sap from smaller plants, such as shrubs and even grasses.

The eggs of the larger species are laid in tree trunks and the nymphs feed underground, sucking sap from roots.

Some of the larger Australian cicadas spend six or seven years as nymphs underground. The adult lifespan is just a few weeks.

A Wendouree resident has sent a photo of a brown-headed honeyeater at her birdbath.

This bird is mostly a bush bird, but it ventures into gardens in Ballarat from time to time, mostly when eucalyptus trees are flowering.

It is usually found in small, active groups, busily feeding amongst the twigs, branches and flowers of gum trees.

I have noticed numbers of these small 'grasshoppers' around this summer. I don't recall seeing them much, or at all, previously. This one is 20mm long, with a 7mm ovipositor and 40mm feelers.

F.R., Learmonth.

This green grasshopper-like insect is a blackish meadow katydid.

The long, fine, antennae identify the katydids from the true grasshoppers.

Mature females are about 20 millimetres long, while males are closer to 15mm. It appears to be uncommon in western Victoria, but is more numerous in its main range in New South Wales and Queensland, where it occurs in swamps and grassy places in forests, urban areas and woodlands.

It is more active in the late afternoon and into the night. The colour of the blackish meadow katydid varies from green to dull brown.

The back is always darker than other parts. The antennae can be four times the body length.

A katydid seen hopping around the district. Picture by Fon Ryan.

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