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Ladybug Bloom Over San Diego/LA
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:22 am
by SantaFeJoe
A swarm of ladybugs 80 miles x 80 miles and flying at 5000-9000 feet altitude was picked up on weather radar:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/ladybug-swarm-detected-weather-radar-over-southern-california-n1014341
https://news.yahoo.com/massive-ladybug-swarm-over-california-233313065.html
May be some great photo ops when they land. I know in AZ and here in NM that they gather in large masses.
Joe
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:21 am
by Scott Fairbairn
I am assuming these are all alien species? I hardly see any native species where I live anymore.
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:39 am
by Ed Cordes
Wow! This is cool stuff. I hate to ask, but do they do any damage? We have them occasionally in the crevices of our windows here in upstate NY, but not in those numbers.
Re:
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:49 am
by SantaFeJoe
Ed Cordes wrote:Wow! This is cool stuff. I hate to ask, but do they do any damage? We have them occasionally in the crevices of our windows here in upstate NY, but not in those numbers.
They are desirable in gardens to eat aphids. They are actually sold for that very purpose.
https://highsierraladybugs.net/our_products
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae
Joe
Re:
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:59 am
by SantaFeJoe
Scott Fairbairn wrote:I am assuming these are all alien species? I hardly see any native species where I live anymore.
Ladybugs migrate to South America in our NA fall/winter and return in spring, according to one source online. I don’t know if that’s true, but they are native species along with Australian imports.
More info here:
https://ladybugplanet.com/what-ladybugs-do-in-winter-where-they-go-and-why/
Joe
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:15 pm
by Jim Zipp
Don't know which these were but there is an invasive species of Ladybugs here in the east anyway. It would be nice if these were native.