Locust

by Jacki
(Grand Forks, B.C. Canada)

Locusts are related to crickets and grasshoppers, as you may be able to tell from their large back legs - if you can see them. Most locusts are masters of disguise, even when you look right at them they appear to be just another piece of weathered driftwood.

Then they leap into action, and flutter a distance, with a distinctive clicking sound. My youngest daughter called them 'sprinkler bugs' as this is what they sound like - the racketing sound of an impulse sprinkler going around.

The lemon yellow wings show in flight, otherwise they're unobtrusively folded away.

The Carolina Locust is not so destructive as some other locusts and grasshoppers, staying on roadsides and dry grass for its meals.