Hobbies And Interests
Mating Call
Only male crickets chirp at night, and one of its functions is as a mating call. The chirp helps female crickets find them. In this way, crickets aren't that different from humans and birds. Some people enjoy being serenaded by a guitar and a song, and songbirds such as male cardinals and warblers chirp away in the hope of getting females to notice them. Crickets are out there at night singing their lonely song hoping to get the attention of a foxy female cricket.
Warning to Other Male Crickets
The chirp of the male cricket is also a territorial warning: they sing to warn other males to keep out. According to Brie Cadman, the sound of the territorial dispute chirp is different from the mating call chirp. For a simple little insect, it's amazing they have such complex strategies to deal with the problems that come with mating. There's much more than meets the eye when you hear a cricket singing at night.
How Crickets Chirp
On each side of the male's wings is a grooved side. They also have a jagged edge on top of the wing, above the grooves. When they scrape these together, they make their music, which is called stridulation. The cricket can play either wing; one website calls this a built-in fiddle, but really it's two fiddles.
Why at Night
Crickets chirp only at night because they're nocturnal, and also because they don't want to attract predators, which is what would happen if they chirped during the day. Crickets are also ventriloquists: another defense mechanism they have is making their sound seem as though it's coming from somewhere else.