Volunteer weather spotters – citizen scientists – solve a mystery for the pros.
National Weather Service meteorologists noticed something puzzling on their radar screens in Southern California… weather spotter told them the mysterious cloud was actually a giant swarm of ladybugs npr.org
Ladybugs are common in California, people even breed and sell them to home gardeners for aphid control, so swarms aren’t unusual. A swarm ten miles wide might be a good sign for the environment or not. There isn’t enough data to say.
Huge displays of wildlife were once a mark of North America. From bison to ladybugs to passenger pigeons (which we of European extraction destroyed – my elegy is here.)
While hiking in Colorado I once came across a swarm of ladybugs that had landed, covering a rocky slope as far as I chose to explore. On a ridge in New Mexico, I found another group blanketing short trees on a sunny ridge between huge Ponderosa pines. It’s good to share the land with wildlife, and it’s not a choice of people or bugs. We can have, and we need, both.
I’m very fond of ladybugs. I heard about this ladybug swarm on the news the other day and said to the person sitting next to me, “Oh, that sounds delightful!”
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They don’t bite, don’t buzz around your head – you can enjoy them
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The Detroit car cloning division’s of the big 3 and so on, j
ust a guess, and thanks for the stories. It is easy to tell at some points in history as to where the major influence on the zeitgeist was coming from. Lots of star’s have Arabic names then religious fanaticism wiped out their quest for knowledge . So they could concentrate on holy stuff like hating and killing each other and the jews. Sorry see how easily I get influenced and carried away.
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Thank you for this, so why are they called “Lady Bugs”, and are there man bugs, and to be fair trans bugs? They do remind one of the people’s car, yah!
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I’m certain all cars are male – makes you wonder where new cars come from. But – believe it or not, some folks think they know why ladybugs are called ladybugs.
“One of the leading theories is that the name came about as a result of the ladybug’s bright red shell, which is not too dissimilar from the red cloak Mary is often pictured wearing in biblical paintings. There’s also an old European legend that states that farmers many hundreds of years ago prayed to the Virgin Mary asking for help to save them from the pests devouring their crops and in return she sent a swarm of tiny beetles bearing her trademark coat to eat them.” http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/04/ladybugs-called/
And I always thought Mary wore blue! PS – sounds like a “just so” story to me!
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