Posted by Scott Fricke on August 17, 2009 at 3:02 PM
Went hiking up on Old Stage Road west of Colorado Springs yesterday, pretty unremarkable terrain until we got to the top of the mountain and stopped for a break and saw an unusual number of lady bugs. Apparently too much of this leads to...
Posted by Scott Fricke on August 17, 2009 at 3:03 PM
this, and then...
Posted by Scott Fricke on August 17, 2009 at 3:04 PM
THIS! Found a whole side of a big granite boulder covered in these things. It was pretty hard shooting these things with dozens of them crawling all over you.
Posted by Rajeev Thomas on August 17, 2009 at 3:07 PM
Scott.... that's pretty crazy!! Never seen that many lady bugs in my entire life!! First one is pretty cool.... last one is crazy....
Posted by Jody Grigg on August 17, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Thats insane number of lady bugs, I like your order of pictures.
Posted by Pam Colander on August 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Sa-weet Scott! Love the sequence also, very effective. Can't have enough of these little critters.
Posted by Todd Caudle on August 17, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Great sequence, and really, really good and interesting photos.
Posted by Brian Jackson on August 17, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Too funny. Way cool sequence.
Posted by bill meikle on August 17, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Cool, not many greenfly around then!
Posted by John Mumaw on August 17, 2009 at 8:37 PM
I hate to repeat the train of thought here, but this sequence is really terrific!
I think that 2 of the "lady bugs" in the first image inicate what's going on here. I think you wondered into a lady bug love in. this would have been great in the last weekly challenge.
Posted by Bob Falcone on August 17, 2009 at 8:53 PM
For whatever reason, the lady bug population certainly exploded around Colorado Springs this year! I saw similar situations on some small rocky peaks at the bottom end of the Pikes Peak Highway and also on Old Stage Road. What was kind of creepy was seeing the clouds of the bugs in the air, and then having them land on me... they don't bite, but having so many little bugs walking on me was a little weird!
BTW, nice sequence of shots!
Posted by John Klotz on August 17, 2009 at 9:21 PM
Well hey! This weekend was the 40 year anniversary of Woodstock and the Summer of Love and all!
Posted by Don Grall on August 17, 2009 at 11:46 PM
Great shots, Scott, and I love the sequence. I saw a video about a month ago, on 9News in Denver where the trunks of trees and the side of a house were completely covered.
Posted by Jesse Speer on August 18, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Here in Ontario, Canada, we get non-native ladybugs in huge numbers in the fall. About 10 years ago they destroyed much of the Ontario wine grape harvest because they were in with the grapes and made the wine taste very odd.
About 10 years back I was in CA in the Santa Cruz Mountains when there was a Lady Bug bloom like that. I remember not being able to walk anywhere without it sounding like I was walking on a bed of rice crispies.
Discussion
19 repliesBTW, nice sequence of shots!
Here in Ontario, Canada, we get non-native ladybugs in huge numbers in the fall. About 10 years ago they destroyed much of the Ontario wine grape harvest because they were in with the grapes and made the wine taste very odd.