The Bugs of Autumn

We really need a hard freeze. Insects are currently a massive problem. They seem to be swarming by species, just waiting to die as the clock of Fall continues to tick down to Winter. Right now I am sitting on the east deck. I am being attacked by all manner of flying insects, biters and non biters. It's worse than at any time in summer. The only remedy will be a killing frost I think. It's time.

The tiniest of them all is the no-see-um. They are the size of a black pepper speck and they can fly through screen doors with ease. They are like tiny black dots that bite and they can also fly. Apparently they are a species of sand flea. Here is a heavily magnified picture.

Very nasty little buggers! You do not even know they are on you until they bite you.

The lady bugs are also swarming. There seem to be an alarming number of them and they also bite. Some have no black spots on their red orange wing covers and these seem to be the worst biters.

Then there is the box elder bugs. These are currently swarming around the garage door of the house in large groups. I'm guessing there are 3 to 400 of them right now, They do not bite, but they land on you when standing in the driveway. They get in your pants and crawl into your ears. If they fly into your mouth, the taste is incredibly awful.

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Finally, there is the brown marmorated stink bug. They tend to swarm outside in window sills  of the house and somehow...somehow, they manage to get inside around screen edges and door jams. This is kind of amazing considering how big they are. They can fly, but my observation has been that it's like they are drunk. They crash into walls, windows and people before attaching themselves to whatever. The first instinct is to smash them if they land on you. My advice is 'don't'. True to their name they do stink when smashed. You will have to change your t-shirt or pants or whatever if you do not want to smell their repulsive odor all day. Spiders will not even eat them is they land in their web. The best way to dispose of them is to grab them in a tissue, then smash them and flush them. They do not bite.  I did an experiment with one of these beetles. I threw it in the toilet alive. He just swam around like it was a day at the beach. I put a piece of toilet paper on top of it and he flipped over and walked upside down under water on the wet TP sheet. Once it found the edge of the paper, it climbed on top of the wet sheet and walked around. Water is not a good weapon against them unless you flush. No it is living happily ever after in the septic tank I suppose. Please see the brown marmorated stink bug below.

Time to shoot a squirrel now. Got to go bang bang.