My Mindfulness and the Loud Crickets

Simple repetitive activity is meditative for me.  It was late one afternoon recently that I was raking our backyard, and I noticed how loud the crickets were.  Maybe I simply hadn't noticed that level of loud before, but I believe the mindfulness that came out of raking made me more attuned and sensitive to that sound.  The air was more humid than warm, and in fact it was a tad cool.  But as I finished, then went for a walk, the loud was reached throughout the neighborhood.  It was not at all pleasant, and it seemed almost deafening.  Further out into my walk, though, the sound dissipated, and it was soft at worst when I returned.

The sound emitted by crickets is commonly referred to as chirping; the scientific name is stridulation. Usually only the male crickets chirp, however some female crickets do as well. The sound is emitted by the stridulatory organ, a large vein running along the bottom of each wing, covered with "teeth" (serration) much like a comb. The chirping sound is created by running the top of one wing along the teeth at the bottom of the other wing. As the male cricket does this, he also holds the wings up and open, so that the wing membranes can act as acoustical sails. It is a popular myth that the cricket chirps by rubbing its legs together. 

There are four types of cricket song: The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song. An aggressive song is triggered by chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the near presence of another male cricket and a copulatory song is produced for a brief period after a successful mating.

Reference: Cricket.