Syracuse hit by swarm of butterflies

May 03, 2012
By Charles Ellis

Syracuse, N.Y. -- That swarm of insects many of you saw in Central New York this afternoon was not locusts or some sort of biblical plague.

One caller to The Post-Standard said he saw them during his entire drive east on the Thruway from Syracuse to the Mohawk River. Another caller from Baldwinsville described it as “a bazillion butterflies everywhere. . . . It’s ridiculous.”

It was part of the annual migration of red admiral butterflies, which look very much like monarch butterflies, said Larry Abrahamson, senior research associate and forest entymologist with the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry. They travel every spring from Mexico to northern Canada, and go back in the fall.

Similar swarms were reported in the Midwest last month, including huge numbers in the Chicago area on April 17, according to the CBS Channel 2 there.

Most years, people will see a few butterflies here and there, Abrahamson said. In this case, he believes, a powerful storm front with southerly winds pushed the massive numbers of them into the area at the same time. the rest image by Peter Broster

(They were indeed all over the place! -PD)