LadybugS -- Definitely Plural

My friend Nicole posted on her blog, Once a Small Seed, about visiting a local state park that is home to a huge group of wintering ladybugs.  I was definitely intrigued!  

With our buddies Molly, Charles, and Max for company, we headed into Redwood Regional Park to see for ourselves.  There was a lot of goofy fun to be had.  Running with your pals...

 

Big tree stumps to climb... 

 

Water fountains...

 

Sticks...

 

And a picnic...

 

And we did find the exciting treasure we were after.  Ladybugs often congregate to rest quietly during the winter months.  I just learned this is called diapause...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The diapause area is about fifteen feet by fifteen feet square, but the thickest clumps of ladybugs are within an area about the size of a child's large wading pool.  Most of the bugs are still, nestled together in clumps, while a few ladybugs wander slowly about.  If you touch the bugs, they move away rather quickly, resettling themselves into new clumps.  There are so many that you can actually smell them if you lean in close -- a damp, fertilizer sort of scent.  The Everything Ladybug website stated that between 72,000 and 80,000 ladybugs can fit into a gallon jug.  I think it would be quite easy to fill a half dozen or more jugs with all the bugs we saw.

After we got home, we went to the library and found the children's nonfiction book Ladybug by Emery Bernhard (NY:  Holiday House, 1992) to learn more.  The San Diego Zoo also has a good website about ladybugs that you can visit by clicking HERE.  According to that site, the ladybugs will break out of diapause when the temperature reaches 55 degrees.  Our day was warm, but it was still cooler than 55 in the chill of the woods, so hopefully the little buggers will snuggle down a little longer since there is likely more winter weather ahead.  I found some great images of the same diapause taken by professional photographer Greg Linhares in November.  (Click HERE to see.)

Watching for stray ladybugs on the trail...

 

One Mama's Two Cents:
        It was a little daunting to hike with a toddler knowing you have a goal to actually reach a specific spot over a mile away, but we truly enjoyed the trek.  The weather has been dry for a while with daytime highs in the 60s, so it was a perfect time to brave the cool, shadowy redwood forest.  There are a couple of areas where the trail rises high above the stream and we had to keep the kiddos away from the edge, but mostly this is an easy trail with gently rolling hills.  There are five bathrooms along the route, there are lots of picnic spots, and the trail is well maintained.  
        A park map will come in handy for finding the ladybugs.  You can down load one HERE.  
        Driving to the Park:   To reach Redwood Regional Park, go on CA-13 towards Hayward.  Take Exit 1C for Redwood Road and travel for about two miles to the park.  Pass the Piedmont Stables, Big Bear Staging Area, and MacDonald Staging Area.  At Redwood Gate, turn left towards the park office and pass the entry kiosk.  (Parking/entry fees apply on weekends and holidays.)  You'll pass Wayside Overflow and Wayside parking areas on left side of the road.  Keep going to the end of the road and park in the Canyon Meadow Staging Area.  
        Hiking to the Ladybugs:  Once you're parked in the right spot, you're 1.24 miles from the bugs.  You'll want to take Stream Trail.  It is easy and paved past the playground, Fern Dell, and Old Church to Trail's End.  (Nicole's crew rode bikes through this section.)  After Trail's End, bikes are not allowed and the path gets both more hilly and rugged.  Jogging strollers work fine, but a regular stroller would have some trouble.  After a small (thankfully toddler friendly) bridge, there is a 0.23 mile section that is the most challenging.  The trail is bumpy and there is one largish hill, although all three tots hiked it fine.  This section would be very muddy after a rain, but is currently easy due to the dry weather.  As the trail rises again, there is a park sign reminding folks to keep dogs on a leash.  (See photo above.)  The ladybugs are hanging out behind (and on top of!) that sign at the intersection of Stream Trail and Prince Trail.  Like Nicole's group, the round trip took us around four hours including play and lunch.

I did some reading but didn't find all the answers to my questions.  Does anybody know if ladybugs are drawn to the same diapause spots year after year?  

 

A big thanks to Nicole for posting and to Molly for braving the wilderness with twin tots.  And thanks to the Frog Mom blog who originally posted about this phenomenon. 

Comments

[Nicole]

Great pics. I see you found the same irresistible stump to climb on.

[Valerie J. Frey]

We sure did, Nicole. I don't think there's any way we could have walked past it without scaling it.

[Jill]

This is so magical! Thank you for sending along the directions - I am going to forward to my sister/friends living in the Bay Area.

[kelly]

Incredible. I have never seen so many ladybirds in one place before. I will show your pictures to my insect adoring son. He will be intrigued. Thanks for sharing!

[Valerie J. Frey]

Thanks, Kelly. I hope he enjoys seeing the pictures.

[Adventure Academy Mom]

That is amazing. Great pictures. You are very lucky to live around that area.

[Julee Herrmann]

we happen to have had a home where the ladybugs would return year after year and use our sunroom for their diapause. i did a little reading at that time and learned that they leave a pheromone behind so that their ancestors will know where they can have a nice winter retreat. and yes, we could smell those little buggies in our meditation space... it was somewhat creepy to have so many critters in our home, but it was also somewhat of an honor to know they were cozy there... we had also learned that they often die during diapause due to dehydration so we kept a humidifier going in the heat of the day to keep them hydrated.

thanks for the awesome info! we'll be bringing a homeschool group out this week and i can't wait to see the throngs of beetles.
julee

[Valerie J. Frey]

Thanks Adventure Academy Mom. And thanks, Julee. Wow! I can only imagine a house full of ladybugs! I didn't know about the dehydration. We're missing rain this winter and I hope that doesn't hurt them. There is rain forecast for later this week, so I will think about thirsty ladybugs. Happy adventuring!