crickets and cicadas
The easiest way to tell them apart by sound is that crickets make a chirping noise by rubbing their wings, while cicadas create a loud buzzing sound using their abdominal organs. You’ll typically hear crickets at night, while cicadas provide the soundtrack to hot summer days.
The choruses of crickets and cicadas form part of this mysterious symphony, their songs—seemingly simple yet profoundly complex—resonating in frequencies that pulse with an ancient rhythm. Each chirp, buzz, and hum is more than a call; it is a message encoded in time, a cadence that bridges the seen and unseen worlds.
Crickets are small insects, typically just 1-2 inches long, from the family Gryllidae. They’re best known for their characteristic chirping sound, which is actually made by males rubbing their wings together – a process called stridulation. These insects are mostly active at night, when you can hear their musical sounds in fields, gardens, and forests. They live for a few months to a year and emerge every year. In many cultures, crickets are kept as pets and are also considered edible.
Cicadas, on the other hand, are larger insects (2-3 inches long) from the family Cicadidae. Instead of chirping, they produce a loud buzzing or droning sound using special organs called tymbals. Unlike crickets, cicadas are active during the day and spend most of their time in trees. While some cicadas appear annually, others are “periodical” – spending 13 or 17 years underground before emerging in massive numbers. They’re recognizable by the empty shells (exoskeletons) they leave behind after molting. Like crickets, cicadas are also considered edible in various cultures.
