As I walked down the sand toward Lake Michigan, a bright green scrap caught my eye.
"Probably plastic," I thought. But after I saw several, I took a closer look.
Not plastic. Bright green stink bugs, each less than one inch long.
At the water’s edge, a massive row of dead bugs a couple of feet wide and several inches deep stretched as far as I could see in either direction!
And here’s the mystery: How did they end up dead on Frankfort beach?
They live on land, where they suck juices from plants and fruits. So they didn’t go down to the beach looking for something to eat.
They had floated in on the waves.
I remembered there was some really bad weather on the other side of the lake a few days before. Had they blown in from Wisconsin?
A few gulls flew around but didn’t land to eat. Stink bugs release a chemical with an offensive odor when they feel threatened. Maybe they taste bad, too.
I shared some photos with a local Extension agent who had never seen such a thing, either.
Were these the green stink bug native to Michigan? Or were they the southern green stink bug which originated in Ethiopia?
I collected a sample so the Extension agent can figure that out. They can be a big crop pest, so it’s important to fruit growers to know what they might be dealing with.
Maybe next Sunday we'll have a firm ID of the victims and a better idea of how they came to rest on Frankfort beach.