A massive swarm of at least 1 billion butterflies is traveling across Los Angeles and neighboring counties at a breathtaking speed of about 20 miles an hour, reports said.
The butterfly species Painted Ladies, cousins to the Monarch butterfly, are in a rush to reach breeding grounds in Oregon after spending winter in the deserts of northern Mexico, according to Tom Merriman, a director of a butterfly non-profit group in Encinitas, in an interview with the Pasadena Star News. “They’ve laid tons of eggs in the desert, and so there may be over a billion butterflies,” Merriman told the paper.
Social media users in L.A. reported seeing the fluttering insects across the region, from Glendora to South-Central L.A.
Southern California friends: I just sat on the beach in the South Bay for two hours while 1,000s of butterflies flew around and past me. What kind are they? What is happening? #butterflies pic.twitter.com/n1IrEaBy0D
— jessica. (@loveheylola) March 11, 2019
“We counted 250 in one hour in the Arroyo Seco, all streaking westward. Quite a sight,” tweeted user L.A. Resident Tourist.
Walked outside to find thousands and thousands of butterflies flying in a constant stream through #redondobeach. Thought it was debris in the wind at first but looks like some sort of migration. Any ideas @NHMLA ? @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/v1Zb8PH7pY
— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) March 11, 2019
Experts said the migration is prompted also by California’s heavy winter rains.
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