[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap] massive swarm of at least 1 billion butterflies is traveling across Los Angeles and neighboring counties at a breathtaking speed of almost 20 miles an hour, reports said.
The butterfly species Painted Ladies, cousins to the Monarch butterfly, are in a rush to reach breeding areas 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 the beaches to South-Central L.A. Butterflies floated quickly across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South L.A. from downtown to Leimert Park.
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