We were recently at the beach along the Chicago lakefront. Late August is a nice time to find lots of dead bugs. . . especially ladybugs along the shoreline. It was an average Tuesday, last week of August. It did storm in the morning, so the sand was very wet, wet enough for the kids to make sand castles without water, well into the afternoon when we arrived. I don't think we found this abundant supply of ladybugs because of the rain. I think this is a seasonal effect and our timing is spot on.
Ladybug Collecting at the End of Summer
Baby girl was very helpful finding all the bugs and gathering them into our bug jar. The lady's are along the shoreline, where the waves meet the sand and leave marks along the shoreline. They are usually found upside down with their wings unfolded, exposed and their elytra (the hard wing shell) also up / exposing the body. These most likely drowned because we saw so many walking towards the shoreline. The water was warm for this time of year, but still stunned them as they went into the waves. Lady's overwinter in hiding places and lay eggs in spring. They get their water for hydration from the few on plants and from what they eat. I still haven't uncovered why they were so drawn to the water.
