Just sounds that way after bein' on vacation for 2 weeks.

The frequency of cricket chirps depends on the temperature.

In hot weather they chirp more times per minute; a group of them would sound louder as a result.

Also, the number of chirping crickets in a group seems to grow as the season wears on, giving credibility to day_by_day's comment.

Other insects, such as katydids, also chirp, so it is not a certainty that you are hearing crickets!

Thanks for the reply. I hear alot of strange sounds outside at night!! I'm sure some of them are frogs, crickets, and maybe even birds sometimes. We live near a small lake and I often wish I had someone here with me to identify what i'm listening to. So interesting. Is there a good website that identifies various insect sounds?

Anita

Try the following link

Here is a link that might be useful: Singing Insects of North America

Thank Aaron, for that link. Right now I'm listening to a loud buzzing sound that I think are katydids. That was helpful and reminded me what crickets actually sound like. Of course, I hear them too, but right now the katydid chorus is deafening!

Anita

Oops, I just read that katydids sing in the evening and at night, so maybe i'm listening to cicadas. Although I have heard cicadas at my sister's house and this is a lighter sound than I remember. more research!

And although I was in doubt, because crickets are so seldom seen here, and because I saw an immature katydid under a group of filbert trees that are loaded with chirpers, I'm sure the local chirpers here are crickets; they put out a distinct pleasing melody.

I think more bugs make their noise when it gets hot. Katydids are loud and have 3 scratchy chirps that sound like "ka-ty-did". It sounds like rubbing a fingernail on plastic comb teeth. I thought a long continuous buzzing was cicadas.

Other chirps, which also sound like crickets, are tree frogs.

My insects have a 2-chirp song that almost becomes continuous if it is a very warm night.

The two-chirp song may very well be toads. I was once sitting outside after a rain in the evening and found myself surrounded by singing toads, each with a different 2-note vocabulary.
Diana

No significant toad population here in SE Portland!