How Long Do Crickets Chirp?
EDITOR'S NOTE: This was first published in August 2018.
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Starting in late July, Minnesotans started to hear summer symphonies from insects. Some say it feels like summer, while others find it simply annoying.
So, Michael from St. Paul asked: How long do crickets chirp?
The cicadas offer their buzz during the day and the katydids chirp late at night. But, it's the crickets that start sounding off in late afternoon.
It's only the male crickets that chirp, and they're using that sounds to attract the females to mate.
They create the chirp by rubbing their wings together -- dragging one part of the wing along the ridges of the other.
It's like sound of fingernails clicking on a comb, but people can't hear it like that because the crickets click so fast.
Instead, humans hear a chirp.
The chirping starts in late July when the crickets are old enough to mate.
Crickets are born in the spring, mature in late summer and die in the fall. And, that's when the summer insect concerts end.
