Why do crickets chirp at night?
Crickets chirp mostly in the evening and at night because the males are calling to attract females, and they make the sound by rubbing one wing against the other.
Meadow Cricket Sounds for Sleeping • Black Screen • 11H
The mechanism is called stridulation: a scraper on one forewing is drawn over a file of tiny ridges on the other, and the wings amplify the vibration. In most species only males sing; the females listen. Evening and night are a good time to call, because the air is calmer and the sound travels further.
Temperature changes the song. Crickets are cold-blooded, so the chirps get faster in warm weather and slower in cool weather, and when it gets cold enough they go quiet. That is why a warm July night sounds quick and an autumn evening sounds slow.
Many summer meadow sounds that people call crickets also come from bush-crickets and grasshoppers; together they form the steady shimmer used for sleep. In our meadow recording the team stayed three nights by the field: the sound is dense, unbroken chirping from the grass, with nothing else added. Three of our cricket recordings are below.
Quick questions
Do female crickets chirp?
In most species, no. The females listen and the males sing.
Why do crickets go quiet when it is cold?
They are cold-blooded, so the chirp slows as it cools, and below a certain temperature they stop.
