If you have ever gone camping in the woods the first thing that you will observe is that it is not relatively silent at night. At night the woods are filled with chirping sounds.
If you think that the only sound you can discern is that of crickets, you are mistaken. Several other creatures chirp in the night.
This is what makes the woods unique at night. I did not know about this, but when I went camping last time, my friend, a zoologist, helped me identify several other creatures chirping. Here are some of the creatures that we found chirp at night.
Animals that chirp at night:
- Bats
- Owls
- Anoles
- Loons
- Mockingbirds
- Crickets
- Grasshoppers
List of animals that chirp at night:
1. Bats
Bats are nocturnal creatures which means they hunt for food at night. Bats find their food with the help of a process called echolocation.
Since bats have poor eyesight, they use their enhanced hearing ability to identify food locations.
For example, fruit bats will use it to identify the location of suitable fruits and vegetables, and bats that hunt use it to identify their prey.
However, they often make a chirping sound before leaving their roost, which sometimes sounds like clicks.
This is to make their presence felt to other bats and creatures that are not their prey.
When several bats make chirping sounds, the sound can become quite loud.
As bats roost in groups, the chirping sounds are also made together, and bats often make these sounds in unison.
2. Owls
Owls like bats are nocturnal creatures, and you will find that they hoot and chirp at night.
Owls also have excellent eyesight, however, the chirping and hooting sound that owls make at night is to make their presence felt.
These birds are excellent hunters, and you will find that they hoot or chirp more during full-moon nights.
Barred owls are the ones that chirp the most during the night and if you listen carefully, these owls have distinctive chirping sounds.
Sometimes these owls make chirping sounds when the owls have owlets in the nests because it is a way of interacting with their little ones.
The hooting of owls is different from that of the chirping sounds. Owls make hooting sounds to defend their territories, while chirping is a happier sound.
3. Anoles
Anoles are lizards, usually greenish or brownish, and quite large. These lizards often produce distinctive chirping sounds.
As anoles are relatively large creatures, you can quickly identify the sound made by anoles.
They make these chirping sounds as a part of their mating calls. Anoles can be sighted during the day, but they can also be quite active at night.
For example, green anoles are active during the day, but you can hear the chirping sounds even at night if, for some reason, they are active at night.
Anoles are usually found in wooded areas, and if your home is close to trees, you can easily discern the chirping sounds of anoles.
4. Loons
The sound that loons make at night is not purely a chirping sound. They make a hoot or a short call at night.
This mode of communication makes it easier for the birds to signal other birds in the flock.
Sometimes you can hear a wailing, yodeling, or a tremolo-like communication.
This communication often carries signals telling other loons about the territories or information that needs to be transmitted through a specific communication mode.
As one of the animals that can fly and swim, loons are territorial birds, and they often tend to protect their territory from rival birds and other loons quite aggressively.
To do that, they need to transmit the information to their partners or other loons in the flock, and this is done with the help of these calls sometimes at night.
Loons protect their territories by protecting the communication about them.
5. Mockingbirds
In North America, you will find that mockingbirds are among the most familiar creatures that chirp at night.
Mockingbirds are diurnal and one of the reasons why they chirp at night is if the male mockingbird loses its mate.
The bird will continue to chirp to attract another mate and you can also find unattached mockingbirds chirping to attract mates.
Mockingbirds in urban areas tend to chirp at night as they do not have to compete with other sounds.
At night there are no ambient sounds that can overcome the chirping sounds of the mockingbird. Hence, you can often hear mockingbirds chirping at night in your garden.
6. Crickets
Crickets are insects whose chirping sounds are discernible are night. One of the reasons you can hear crickets at night is that most predators are active during the day.
The chirping sounds that crickets make are their mode of communication and this is usually done by the males.
The acoustic calling of the cricket is made to attract females. Once a female comes close, the sound will become louder.
But when you approach a cricket, it will feel the vibration and stop chirping.
Crickets can chirp during the day and at night but because everything becomes quiet at night and the insects feel more secure around this time, you can hear the sound of the crickets chirping clearly.
7. Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers like crickets chirp throughout the night and they can create chirping sounds of varying frequencies.
These insects make high-pitched sounds that sound like chirps to our ears by rubbing one body part against another.
You will often hear these creatures from a part of the nocturnal chorus if you were to camp outside your home for the night.
Unlike crickets, both male and female grasshoppers can produce chirping sounds.
These sounds are produced at varying frequencies by the creatures.
There are twelve different frequencies in which the male grasshoppers can produce these chirping sounds. Each chirp produced by the male grasshopper lasts for half a second.
The chirping sound produced by the grasshopper is usually made to attract females or defend its territory.
