LAFAYETTE, La. (KADN) — You may have noticed the large amount of mosquito hawks and other flying insects currently around Acadiana. So, what's up with all the bugs? That’s a good question.
You know what bugs me? Swarms of insects. Whether it’s mosquito hawks or the ever-daunting cicada swarm, these bugs annoy pretty much everyone.
Mosquito hawks, which are actually called crane flies, are everywhere right now.
These bugs don't kill mosquitoes at all, which is a common myth.
In fact, they don't eat anything.
They only live for about two or three weeks, where they just fly around, mate, and die. What a life.
So, why in the world are there so many?
A rainy winter could be to blame, and so could the ice storm this year. The swarm could also have been worsened by the drought, but it's tough to tell what the cause is for the uptick.
I headed to the Hideaway in Lafayette to talk to LSU Ag entomologist Forest Huval to learn more.
The next bug in our ears will be cicadas, but fortunately, they don't venture farther south than Shreveport.
We'll still have the annual summertime cicadas to deal with, but nothing compared to the Midwest, which has a 12-year and 13-year brood surfacing all at once.
Besides some grasshoppers flying all over the place this summer, we should be in the clear, bug-wise, until the dreaded lovebug season in August and September.
