Here is a photograph of a Ladybug and some red berries I took at Starved Rock State Park, near Utica, Illinois, last November 1st. This was about a week after “the day the leaves fell” - wehad wanted to get down there during the height of the fall colors, however every leave in Northern Illinois fell on one day about a week previously. It was still nice, at least we could get better views of the cliffs and canyons. Looking back on this photo I was reminded of climbing peaks in the southwest – New Mexico and Arizona – where for some unknown reason you would occasionally find the entire rocky top of a mountain peak COVERED in Ladybugs even in the middle of winter (at least if it was above freezing). I first encountered this phenomena on Swedish Peak in the Chiricahua Mountains in south eastern Arizona in mid-January 1996 (snow on the ground). My only explanation for this behavior is that maybe they breed up there and then the wind blows them off across the countryside in a random fashion (like pollen). Who knows? Well, there’s not any Ladybugs around here in the winder, peaks or not, so this one may be the last I see for a while!
The Last Ladybug
