Massive Lovebug Swarm in Florida

The meek shall inherit the earth...

 

Its normal.

Wash those bastages off within three days or they will etch your paint

 

We had a post about these not long ago. I thought we got them pretty bad here and made the comment that while annoying, they were harmless. One poster said (from FL) we must not get them bad here. Welp, I agree now. they ain't this bad.

I've noticed they like direct sunlight and are attracted to idling cars. IDK if it is the noise/vibration or heat being put off, but they tend to swarm idling cars. They're dumb, and harmless. Personally I welcome them every year bc it is a sure sign it is finally summer. but if they were that bad, I may think otherwise!!

 

Bats. Florida needs millions of bats.

Build a bat cave, and they will come.

 

We had a warm spring this year, and a lot of rain. I noticed the first ones in March, which is the earliest I ever saw them.

Good thing they don't bite LOL.


Some interesting facts about lovebugs: They mate for 3-4 days, after which the male (the smaller one) dies but remains coupled to the female (the larger one). The female carries the dead male carcass around for several more days until she lays her fertilized eggs.

 

I've seen them that bad here before. Some springs and late summers are worse than others. They just started showing up a couple of weeks ago and aren't horrible, at least so far this spring.

 

I've lived in Florida my entire life, and I've never seen them swarm over open water like that.

 

My mother-in-law's car half way through a trip from central Florida to Ft. Myers this past weekend.

 

My patrol car looks pretty similar these days after an afternoon/evening shift. Luckily, I can get that washed for free, though.

 

Dang! I thought this was a VW thread!

 

Florida used to have millions of bats but the skeeters et em all.

 

Yes, in open wheeled racing, pretty much everyone uses tear off shields to keep their vison intact. All the closed faced helmets I ever owned, came with a visor with little buttons on the side where you alternately stretch and layer tear offs with their little handles sticking out, making it easy to just grab and tear off when they become fouled.

All the normal stuff like bugs, oil and coolant will take your vision away very quickly. With rain itself, it isn't as much an issue as wind itself tends to keep your visor clear, but at the club level, in every race there are a couple numbskulls who are spewing both oil and/or coolant and even as you tend to go by those guys pretty quickly, it will wreck your vison in seconds.

It has been a while since I raced, maybe they have even more high tech solutions today.

 

Mayflies can be incredible.

 

Especially when you are fly fishing. Basically the only way I catch anything.