Rain, rain go away

I heard today that the rainy season is officially over.  I was quite surprised, as was the person who told me, because it is over 20 days early!  This means we have nothing but sunny skies and lots of heat to look forward to for the next couple months.  Unfortunately though, it also means we are looking forward to a drought at the end of the summer months.  As much as I don't like the torrential downpours, I would rather have them than a drought.

I had noticed a change in humidity.  It is super hot, but not nearly as sticky as it has been.  But tonight I noticed the song of the cicadas.  I once had one of these tree crickets molt right above me and drop it's exoskeleton on me.  While my friend thought my freak out of flailing about was hilarious, I have not been a fan of cicadas since.  Plus, they are so loud it feels almost like you're in a rainforest or something!

As a matter of fact, I am not really a bug person in general.  However, my son loves them, so I oblige him to the best of my abilities.  Case in point: I got my hand as close as I could without loosing it to take a photo of this beetle for my son.  I think I have correctly identified it as an Asian Longhorn Beetle.  It was so huge, I stopped, got off my bike, and took this photo on a pedestrian overpass next to the park.  I shutter at my bravery.

Later in the day, one of the kids from the park found this beetle.  He had a great time showing it off to everyone.  This beetle is simply called the Japanese Beetle, according to my extensive Google research.

We don't only find beetles.  There are plenty of butterflies around too.  They are just much harder to get photos of.  There is a huge black butterfly around here that I actually thought was a confused bat the first time I saw it because it is so big.  But when one gets a better look at it, the wings are actually a subtle blue and black pattern that is very beautiful.  I have not been able to capture one of these on "film."  But I did get this neat butterfly: Argynnis hyperbius, or Indian Fritillary.  The top of the wings are orange, but the underside (and face) are equally interesting.

I'm sure that we will see more and more bugs since the rains are done for a while.  I am not very excited about this prospect since most of the ones we have found have been so huge!