Bugs!

The outside of our house has been overrun with beetles the last week. They seem to love bright sun because they're only on the back of the house, which is southern facing.

Close up. They are about 1/2 inch long and have red bodies with black wings and appendages. They move eerily like a spider when they walk. And, they're flat enough that some work their way into our house every night, but thankfully they must miss their gaggle since they stay against the back windows.



One section of the back of our house. Uninhabited (darn it!) bat box visible in upper right hand corner.


Bolstering my theory that they are attracted to the sun and bright colors, our neighbor's house, which is white, has them twice as bad as us:


We have a large population of Purple Martins that seem to have gone to warmer climates already because I'd expect them to feast on these beetles if they were still around. By the way, if you have mosquito problems, try to attract these gems to your yard by buying Purple Martin bird houses. They do wonders in our neighborhood, and are really fun to watch swooping over head all summer long. They are a type of Swallow and if you've ever been to a night baseball game, you have seen them swooping up the insects flying in the lights.