Bugs That Make Noise at Night: Chirps, Clicks and Scratching

Start with the time of day. Mississippi State extension entomologists put it plainly: cicadas sing only during the day, and the summer night chorus comes from katydids, false katydids and crickets. University of Florida’s Singing Insects of North America project adds that the males of most cricket and katydid species make loud, persistent calls to attract females, and that the songs are species-specific enough to identify the singer by ear. That makes night noise easier to diagnose than it sounds.

Identify the night noise by sound

What bug chirps at night?

Almost always a cricket. Crickets sing by stridulation, rubbing a file on one forewing against a scraper on the other, which is also why the wingless camel crickets in basements are silent. Our guide to house and camel crickets covers telling the two apart.

Field and house crickets

The dark field crickets of lawns and foundations give a pulsed chirp. The fall field cricket is, as its name says, most abundant in autumn, while the near-identical spring field cricket is most abundant in spring; UF notes the two cannot be reliably told apart by song or looks. The house cricket, a straw-coloured species with a dark bar between the eyes, chirps at 40 to 200 chirps a minute according to the UF song data and can live indoors permanently. A cricket chirping in a bedroom at night is usually one of these that wandered in from outside.

Tree crickets and the cricket thermometer

The soft, even chirping that seems to come from every shrub on a late summer night is often the snowy tree cricket, 15 to 18 mm long, singing from July to October. UF describes regular, melodious chirps at about 2.8 a second at 25°C in the East, and its recordings include groups of males chirping in synchrony. UF calls it the thermometer cricket. In 1897 Amos Dolbear published the relationship that now bears his name, and NOAA gives the simple version: count the chirps in 15 seconds and add 40 for the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. UF’s more precise recipe for the snowy tree cricket is to count chirps in 13 seconds and add 40 in the eastern US, or count in 12.5 seconds and add 38 west of the Great Plains, where the species chirps slightly faster. NOAA cautions that other species may need a different formula.

Other tree crickets do not chirp but trill continuously. The western tree cricket of California and the Southwest gives a continuous, musical trill and is heard from late May to November in southern Arizona and from August until frost in Oregon.

Katydids: the loudest voice in the trees

The common true katydid is a leaf-green insect 39 to 50 mm long that lives high in the crowns of deciduous trees in forests, woodlots and yards, and is far easier to hear than to see. In northern populations its song is a phrase of two or three harsh pulses repeated about once a second, the “ka-ty-did, she-didn’t, she-did” that gave the whole family its common name. Neighbouring males alternate, so a yard can sound like an argument. UF notes the song varies by region more than any other katydid: southeastern populations quicken to three to five pulses per phrase. The season runs from June in Florida, or July further north, to October.

Smaller meadow katydids in long grass produce ticks and buzzes at much higher pitch: UF’s recording of the Gulf meadow katydid peaks at about 20 kHz, several times higher than the crickets and true katydids.

When the night chorus is loudest: our data

We analysed US research-grade iNaturalist records for the three main singing families, measuring each family’s share of everything people recorded each month, with 100 as its yearly average. The seasons differ sharply.

• Katydids build from 95 in June and 150 in July to a peak of 248 in September, staying high (188) in October.
• Crickets are below average from March to July, then jump to 129 in August, peak at 227 in September and stay at 214 in October and 155 in November. The autumn chorus, and the autumn cricket in the house, are real patterns.
• Cicadas barely register before May, run high from May (251) through August (281), then collapse to 27 by October. The May surge fits periodical cicadas, which Mississippi State notes emerge in mid-spring before the annual species appear.

One caveat runs through these numbers: they are records of insects people photographed, not of sound. Crickets are heard far more than they are seen, and our file holds 16,934 cricket records against 120,988 for katydids and 130,890 for cicadas. Use the shape of each curve, not the totals.

Do I hear crickets or cicadas?

Check the clock first. Mississippi State extension states that cicadas sing only during the day, with some species singing late in the day and up to dark, and that the nighttime sounds are katydids and crickets. So a loud buzzing drone in the trees on a hot afternoon is cicadas; rhythmic chirps or trills after dark are crickets; harsh, repeated two or three-part rasps from treetops after dark are katydids.

Periodical cicadas are the exception people remember. In emergence years they appear when the soil 8 inches down passes 64°F, mostly in June in Wisconsin, and University of Wisconsin extension estimates choruses can reach roughly 70 to 80 decibels or more, comparable to a vacuum cleaner or busy traffic.

Insects that make noise at night in the house

• Chirping: a house or field cricket. Track it by sound, then catch and release it outdoors. One cricket indoors is not an infestation.
• Whining by your ear: a female mosquito. Cornell researchers studying the yellow fever mosquito measured wingbeats of about 400 beats per second for females and 600 for males; the female’s tone is the high whine you hear.
• Ticking inside wood: deathwatch beetles. UC IPM explains that the adults communicate and probably find mates by tapping their heads against wood, usually at night; the name probably comes from people hearing the tapping while sitting up at night with the sick. They prefer damp wood, above 14 per cent moisture, so they are more likely in damp crawl spaces, basements and outbuildings than in heated, air-conditioned rooms; our guide to bugs in the basement covers the other insects that follow damp. If the ticking comes from beams or floors, have the wood inspected: wood-boring beetles in structural timber are a job for a licensed professional.
• Clicking at the porch light: click beetles. Virginia Cooperative Extension describes them as 6 to 19 mm long, attracted to bright lights at night in mid to late summer, and harmless: they do not bite or sting, though one may try to click out of your hand. Missouri’s conservation department explains the snap: a spine on the underside clicks into a groove and flips a beetle that is on its back into the air.

Scratching and squeaking: not insects

Most night noises that worry people are not insects. Insect sounds in a house are faint chirps, whines, ticks or clicks; loud scurrying, scratching and gnawing come from mammals. Match the noise to the hour:

• Mice and rats: UC IPM notes house mice are active mostly at night. Quiet scampering and scratching in wall voids and above ceilings, plus droppings, point to rodents. See when to call pest control for mice.
• Flying squirrels: strictly nocturnal and colonial, and often mistaken for mice. Our guide to squirrels in the attic explains why the species matters legally.
• Tree squirrels: Connecticut wildlife officials note that gnawing, scratching and pattering in the early morning or daylight usually signal squirrels. If the noise starts at first light, think squirrel, not insect.
• Bats: Maine wildlife officials report that bats often squeak before leaving the roost at night and may chatter on hot days, loud enough to hear from up to 30 feet, with noise increasing near dusk. Penn State warns that squirrels and mice make scurrying and squeaking noises that sound like bats, and suggests watching the building at dusk to see what leaves. Bats are excluded, not trapped; our bat removal cost guide explains the process and timing.

Bugs that make noise at night in California

The western night chorus has its own cast. Field crickets and tree crickets carry most of it, including the western tree cricket’s continuous trill. Jerusalem crickets communicate by drumming rather than chirping, according to UF’s Singing Insects of North America. Indoors, the deathwatch beetle most often found in California structures is the Pacific deathwatch beetle, and UC IPM notes deathwatch beetles in California more often arrive from outdoor populations than powderpost beetles do.

How to get rid of noisy bugs at night

1. Turn down the outdoor lights. Crickets, May beetles, click beetles and many other night fliers come to light, and Virginia Cooperative Extension says reducing outdoor lighting is the best way to limit beetles entering houses. Switch off, use motion sensors, and close blinds at night.
2. Seal the gaps. Door sweeps, tight screens and sealed foundation cracks keep crickets and beetles outdoors.
3. Find indoor singers by ear and remove them; a single cricket does not justify a spray.
4. Close bedroom windows on peak chorus nights in late summer. Outdoor crickets and katydids cannot be silenced and are not pests.
5. Treat the cause for non-insects. Rodents, squirrels and bats need exclusion of entry points, and bats need it done at the right time of year.

How to shut up cicadas?

You cannot, and extension services advise against trying. Wisconsin extension says insecticides are generally not needed or recommended for periodical cicadas, and Mississippi State notes annual cicadas do not cause significant damage and are not considered pests. Cicadas do not bite readily, sting or carry toxins. The practical step in a periodical cicada year is protecting young trees with netting of 1/4 inch mesh or finer, put on when the males are first heard singing. The chorus ends when the adults die off.

Frequently asked questions

What bug makes a weird noise at night?

Match the sound to its source. Rhythmic chirps are crickets, a harsh repeated “ka-ty-did” from treetops is a katydid, a loud trill from the ground after sunset in the South is a mole cricket, and slow ticking inside wood can be a deathwatch beetle tapping its head. Scratching, scurrying or squeaking in walls and ceilings is not an insect: it is usually mice, rats, flying squirrels or bats.

How to get rid of noisy bugs at night?

Reduce outdoor lighting, which draws crickets and beetles to the house, and seal gaps under doors and in screens. Find an indoor cricket by following its chirp and release it outside; one cricket does not need a pesticide. Outdoor choruses of crickets and katydids cannot be silenced and are harmless, so closing windows is the realistic fix. Scratching in walls means rodents, squirrels or bats, which need exclusion.

How to shut up cicadas?

There is no effective way, and extension services do not recommend insecticides for periodical cicadas. Annual cicadas are not considered pests, and cicadas do not bite readily, sting or carry toxins. Protect young trees with netting of 1/4 inch mesh or finer when males start singing. Most cicadas sing by day, so the night noise you hear is more likely crickets or katydids.

Do I hear crickets or cicadas?

Time of day is the quickest test. Cicadas sing during the day, some up to dark, while the sounds of full night are crickets and katydids, according to Mississippi State extension. Crickets give rhythmic chirps or smooth trills; cicadas give a loud, sustained buzzing drone from trees. Our iNaturalist analysis also separates them by season: cicadas peak from May to August, crickets in September and October.

Can you tell the temperature from cricket chirps?

Roughly, yes. NOAA’s version of Dolbear’s law is to count chirps in 15 seconds and add 40 for degrees Fahrenheit. For the snowy tree cricket, UF’s Singing Insects of North America suggests counting chirps in 13 seconds and adding 40 in the East, or counting in 12.5 seconds and adding 38 in the West. Other species chirp at different rates, so results vary.

Sources

• University of Florida, Singing Insects of North America (SINA): species pages for common true katydid, snowy tree cricket, western tree cricket, fall field cricket, house cricket, tawny mole cricket and Gulf meadow katydid.
• Mississippi State University Extension, Bug’s Eye View: Annual Cicadas (2022) and Light Management (2017).
• University of Wisconsin Extension, Periodical Cicadas.
• NOAA Office of Education, Can crickets tell temperature? (Dolbear’s law, 1897).
• University of California Statewide IPM Program, Pest Notes: Wood-Boring Beetles in Homes; Pest Notes: House Mouse.
• Virginia Cooperative Extension, Click Beetles.
• Cornell University, Cator et al., harmonic convergence in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, Science (2009).
• Penn State Extension, Bats; Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Bats; Connecticut DEEP, Squirrel Nuisance Problems.
• The Pest Control Brief analysis of iNaturalist research-grade records, pulled October 2026.