Ladybugs Thick In Moscow Area

They blanket the grass, envelop rosebushes and even sneak into a mouth or two.

Shiny orange-winged ladybugs are swarming the Moscow area about three weeks earlier than usual.

Ed Bechinski, an extension specialist at the University of Idaho, had no specific explanation for their early emergence. But the associate professor of entomology said that when their main source of food - aphids - retreat from area grain fields after harvest, ladybugs start looking for more food before winter hits.

Bechinski said ladybugs were literally everywhere when he visited the Harvard area during the weekend.

“They were in my ears and you could hardly open your mouth without ladybugs flying in,” he said.

Clouds of the bugs also are feasting on aphids in the trees lining Main Street in Moscow before heading to higher elevations like Moscow Mountain.

“They are great for your rose garden and flower gardens; they are entirely beneficial” since they prey on other insects, Bechinski said. “The will eat almost anything they can overpower.”