ladybugIf you’re a long-time reader, you know about my special connection to ladybugs. If not, you can catch up here. Ladybugs find me in the most unexpected places. A couple of weeks ago, there were three days in a row that ladybugs stationed themselves on my office window 13 floors up! They show up in my car, on my car, at my door, in my house, on my shoulder. So imagine my surprise when I read this article in “Texas Parks and Wildlife” about the disappearance of native ladybugs in North America!

But there’s hope. The National Science Foundation is funding a project to help figure out why this is happening. And WE can help, too! By taking pictures of any ladybugs we find and uploading the images to www.lostladybug.org, we can contribute to the data used in the project. Everything you need to know about how to photograph the ladybugs is there on the website. You’ll also need to provide information about the date, time, and place you found your ladybug. 

So take photos of your ladybug visitors and be conscious of the good fortune they bring you. What a great family or classroom project, too!