CricketsNatures Ventriloquists

This time of year, if you take an evening walk outdoors, you most likely will hear the cheerful sounds of Crickets chirping. There are quite a number of species of Crickets, but the most common are Black Field Crickets. They are shiny black in color and grow up to be about an inch and a quarter long with short rounded wings.

Crickets are very attracted to light, and for this reason, they are the most likely to enter homes in late summer, looking for a warm place to get out of the cold. If anyone ever had a cricket get into their house, they may well have spent a sleepless night listening to its loud chirping. I heard of a person who literally tore his house apart - to no avail - trying to find the little culprit that was keeping him awake.

Believe it or not, crickets are like ventriloquists - able to literally throw their voices. You cant always find a cricket by following its sound - it can make its noise appear to be coming from somewhere else. The sound seems soothing and calm when outdoors, but indoors it can really be annoying.

When we hear the chirping of a cricket, the sound will be coming from a male. Crickets are found outdoors in grassy areas such as flower beds and lawns.

Crickets survive the winter as eggs laid in the soil. The eggs hatch in the late spring or early summer and the nymphs develop slowly reaching adulthood by the fall. The cricket nymphs look like a smaller version of adults but with no wings. Then the adul ...