Cicadas

Cicadas!  Apparently, every 17 years, a species of cicadas comes out to eat, shed, grow, mate and die.  This is the 17 year.  These cicadas hatched back in 1996!  They are everywhere!  I grew up with cicadas.  They are part of the summer sights and sounds, but I've NEVER seen so many at once. 

Shells all over the ground in the front yard.

See the shells hanging all over the trees?

They are everywhere!!

I can not take credit for this photo:  http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/8787
Personally, I wouldn't want to get close enough to take this picture.

This is what they look like up close.  They are UGLY!  The cicadas I grew up with were green and white.  These are like Halloween nightmares - black and orange with red eyes.  Thankfully they are pretty stupid bugs (I guess that's what happens when you live underground for 17 years) and they don't bother me too much.  Cicadas are just a part of summer.

Also in bug land, I've started seeing lightning bugs in the fields in parts of the county as I drive from park to park.  Summer is just around the corner when the lightning bugs appear!