If you are not a Florida Native you may have screamed this as you stepped outside and as your foot hits the ground flying objects whirl up into the sky in front of you, you duck covering your face with your hands you may even feel them hitting you. You open your eyes and there is the alien looking up.
You have just met the eastern Lubber Grasshopper.
I just took my dog Poppy out for a walk and there were so many of these grasshoppers flying up and away from me and some flying into me it was not a very relaxing walk! My sister’s two pekin ducks are so funny trying to run after them very seldom catching one! They have brutalized my flowers eating stalks and leaves. I put some pest dust on one and it just fluttered its wings and kept on eating! Guess I missed the only time to get control over them which is when they 1st hatch looking like small black grasshoppers with an orange strip.
See How to kill Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers By Kimberly Sharpe at Hunker.com
I am a Si-Fi movie fan strange for a 73-year-old and have often wondered where the writer/producer came up with the “look” of the alien then I discovered that just maybe they used insects.