This colorful creature is unfortunately not always so welcome. Though people call him a Locust, he is not, he is an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. At the University of Florida, the question of Locusts being in Florida got this response: "Locusts are found on every continent outside of North America and Antarctica, so they really have an impact all over the world, but not here." Its bright orange, yellow and red colors are a warning to predators that it contains toxins that will make it sick. But the colors are a spectacular sight for people just watching the slow moving, large grasshopper displaying its hues.

It is much better to watch than touch this insect. If you pick up this grasshopper it will make a loud hissing noise and secrete an irritating, foul-smelling foamy spray.

The four-inch long grasshopper cannot fly. Instead it moves in short clumsy hops. It can also walk or crawl.

The Eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea guttata) eats broadleaf plants and will feast in gardens.

They live throughout Florida and from North Carolina to Tennessee, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Arizona. These insects mostly reside in open pinewoods, weedy vegetation and weedy fields.

Taken with my Samsung Galaxy S10 phone.