This is going to be short and I’m working on a longer post that I’ll get up tomorrow or Thursday, but I just couldn’t help but share an insect sighting from yesterday!  I was driving past the American beautyberry shrub at work on my way to close the back entrance for the night when I spotted a bunch of loudly buzzing insects flying around the flowers that were just beginning to open.  I assumed they were bumblebees and was about to drive off when I realized they weren’t flying quite right for bees.  So, I took a closer look and saw dozens of these little guys sucking down nectar from the flowers:

Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida

June bugs!  Or at least what most people in North Carolina consider June bugs, the green June beetle, Cotinis nitida.  These beetles send me straight back to happy moments from my childhood and I absolutely love seeing them, so I was thrilled to find a bunch of them out and about.  They tend to have a sort of mass emergence here, so apparently the emergence has begun.  I will expect to see hundreds – thousands! – of them over the next month or so!  I want to get some really good photos of them this year, but I am totally happy just watching them do their thing too.

Just had to share because these beetles are something I really love and they represent summer to me.  I hope you all love your June bugs – whether green, brown, or some other color – wherever you are!

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