Attack of the June Bugs!

[Michael_in_TX]

ACK! GET THEM OFF!! GET THEM OFF!! For the love of all things rational, get them off me!

It has been unseasonably warm here in southeast Texas and we're getting a bit of "early summer" and that means June bugs. I do not remember them being this bad in awhile. They are swarming my grill and my lights....banging into the glass back door of the house. Tens and tens of them!

Direct grilling some pork tenderloins before switching to smoke-roasting was the longest five minutes of my life in quite some time. And it is the worst when they get in your hair!

The only positive thing is those that followed me inside become instant cat toys.

Almost makes me miss mosquitos. Almost.

[STEbbq]

Pics or it didn’t happen.

(Seriously, nightmare fuel!)

[bbqLuv]

Ditto in pix

[Donw]

The term “June Bugs” has a totally different meaning here. It is our local term for the hordes of high school graduates and college students who swarm to Ocean City in June. Interesting to observe, study their mating dances and displays, and then many leave a path of destruction or puke wherever they appear.

[Red Man]

I remember beach week…good times 😂

[Jerod Broussard]

I was a June Bug, born 5:55 in the p.m.

[RonB]

Whatever you do, don't put out traps. That will attract 'em to your yard from a long distance. The trap bag will fill up , but number of bugs will not decrease.

[58limited]

Gawd, I remember in the 70s in Plano, Tx there would be a 25 foot diameter circle of squashed June bugs in the street around every street light in town. Whenever I complain about them now I remember how bad they were back then.

Interestingly, here on the Louisiana border not too far from you I'm not getting many June bugs and they are usually bad in weather like this.

And, Naah - June bugs are way better than skeeters. they just fly around and annoy you. Skeeters suck your blood and spread disease and make you itch.

[Troutman]

I'm sure you are familiar with Sea Rim State Park David. This little known beach park along the upper Texas coast is home to more varieties of mosquitoes than anywhere in the world. That's it's claim to fame. I was tent camping there once and had my foot up against the tent screen while sleeping that night. The next morning I almost couldn't walk, the skeeters had bitten me so badly. I never returned to that place, I consider it a little piece of Texas hell

[58limited]

Troutman The old timers here in Port Arthur claim that back in the early years sailors from the merchant and military ships would get drunk and sometimes pass out on the side walks or in the alleys. The mosquitoes would kill them by morning.

[Huskee]

I'm not too creeped out by them (bees, a completely different story), but I do hate it when they seemingly fly right your face all zombie-like.

Supposedly this is going to be a very bad year for cicadas too, two different hatchings are supposed to simultaneously coincide this year.

On a brighter, less creepy note, we heard peepers this evening! If you're unfamiliar, they're the tiny frogs that come out of hibernation in wet areas and peep really loud in droves for a few weeks in spring. Quick vid about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oSNzxN3kfo. It was 70 today, the third or maybe fourth unseasonably warm day like this in the last few weeks. One of my favorite things is the spring peepers. We live in a swampy area and they're loud. Usually early April is "early", it's unheard of (no pun intended) to hear them in early March.

[DaveD]

Jeepers creepers! Early spring seems to be a thing all over. Best get used to it...

[Carolyn]

I miss all of those sounds, especially the cicadas.

[Huskee]

Carolyn I like hearing the cicadas on those hot summer days, soudns like summer. Many just call them "heat bugs" here.

[SheilaAnn]

I miss lightening bugs…. They ain’t from around these parts.

[58limited]

I occasionally see lightning bugs around here but with the mosquito control planes flying the lightning bugs are few and far between. One of those magical things from my childhood that I wish I could share with the younger generations.

[Carolyn]

Me too. We had them in our neighborhood in Baton Rouge, but the most I ever saw was in Tennessee. They were everywhere.

[DaveD]

I never saw them, having grown up in the LA area and spent the rest of my adult life in Oregon, England, Australia, Texas, and New Mexico, until moving here to northern Virginia in 2019. They call them fireflies here, and I have yet to tire of watching them out on the patio of an early summer's evening. Very calming.

[Oak Smoke]

We haven’t seen many bugs yet, but they will come. It’s the reason we screened in the back porch and my cooking area last year. BBQ without bugs is wonderful. We’d are seeing signs of spring, the plum thickets are all in full bloom, our red bud tree is starting to bloom, we saw a small group of the greater Canadian geese fly over yesterday. We also have a chance of severe weather Thursday. It’s looking like spring!

[Mosca]

June bugs aren’t a big deal here, but ticks and mosquitoes are. Ticks not so much at home, and on the deck, but mosquitoes get pretty thick, they’re much worse than they used to be. And 20 years ago there was no problem going for a walk in the woods; a little DEET or picaridin on the face and arms and you were set. But now you have to spray everything, all your clothes, and stuff your pant legs into your boots. Lyme is particularly bad; it’s estimated that 30% or more of ticks in PA carry Lyme disease.

We are on the edge of this year’s double cicada outbreak. I don’t expect much annoyance. But I kind of like them. They’re here, they’re noisy, they’re gone.

[smokenoob]

I’ll trade you love bugs and noseeums for your June bugs!

[Carolyn]

Oh man, we had a couple really bad years in south La. Black bugs all over the hood and grill of your parked car. They would swarm the car.

[Johnny Booth]

spraying Pam on the front of your car will keep them from sticking, and protect your paint. Their guts are corrosive to your clear-coat.

[smokenoob]

Johnny Booth yes, I use a product called RejeX and wash the love bugs off same day they occur!

[Panhead John]

I’ve not seen a single June bug over here Michael, but I am being inundated with those pesky damn crane flies. They’re everywhere some days. When I’m in the garage, they seem to congregate around my entry door. I then have to spray them or swat em away to keep em from getting inside. They’re harmless but just a nuisance.

[Troutman]

The ones to watch out for are the gallinippers. Those things suck...literally !!!

[Michael_in_TX]

Yep...got a mild case of those, too. They don't last very long in the house with the cats as they are large and relatively sluggish flyers.

[bbqLuv]

I have seen neither. Lucky me.

[Troutman]

Yea I'm with PJ. We haven't had the June's as of yet here in the Houston area. I'm sure they are on their way. Heck, it's going to be a record 87*F today. Gawd I hope we don't have another 110*F summer, yuck !!!

[Michael_in_TX]

I know I am dreading it. I saw that Killeen was the first city in the United States to hit triple digits on February 26. February! That ain't right, as it were.

[Oak Smoke]

I just came in from outside. Spring is officially here. My live oaks are dropping leaves like crazy and I just threw out my first sneeze of the season.

[Michael_in_TX]

Yep, I raked four full lawn and leaf bags of those leaves this weekend.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

Mosquitoes in Michigan yesterday.
Called the vet for some Heartgard, for the puppies.

[RichieB]

Too early here in Western Massachusetts. I get tick and mosquito treatment each year. I like it because it not poison so eco friendly and it works. No peepers yet. I do enjoy them, especially when I'm grilling in the evening. Very soothing.