Watch thousands of ladybugs engulfing tree at New Mexico national monument

Thousands of ladybugs are taking over a New Mexico national monument and completely covering the trees.

“The trees are alive…with ladybugs!” Capulin Volcano National Monument said on Twitter.

Ladybugs are completely covering many trees at Capulin National Monument in Des Moines, New Mexico. The National Park site posted a video Thursday showing a tree completely engulfed in the tiny bugs.

“This is just one of the many trees that ladybugs are starting to gather on,” a Capulin Volcano ranger said on Twitter. “These colorful creatures will be at the highest point of the volcano until August for the phenomenon called hill-topping.”

The monument has said before that at first glance it looks like the volcano has erupted again, but with ladybugs instead of lava. The phenomenon turns the crater bright red, the park said.

In spring the ladybugs feed on bugs in the aphid population, Capulin Volcano National Monument said.

“When the aphids begin to disappear, thousands upon thousands of ladybugs fly to an area of higher elevation such as capulin or other surrounding volcanoes,” the monument said on Facebook. “They begin to mate and then comes time for hibernation.”

The migration to the top of the volcano happens every summer, and the bugs will hibernate through the winter on the volcano, according to the National Park Service.

“Surviving beetles then catch a warm current off the volcano in February to the south to reproduce,” the NPS said. “Since the wind carries the lady beetle in its migration, it has a hard time controlling its destination and may go to aphid-rich fields near the volcano or maybe to wheat fields in Texas.”

This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Watch thousands of ladybugs engulfing tree at New Mexico national monument."