{"id":908303,"date":"2026-09-28T07:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908303\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T07:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T07:32:10","slug":"bogong-moths-swarm-homes-across-eastern-australia-in-annual-migration-bungle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908303\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogong moths swarm homes across eastern Australia in annual migration \u2018bungle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of thousands of giant moths<\/a> have swarmed homes across Australia\u2019s east coast.<\/p>\n

Social media has been inundated with videos and photos of the bogong moths swarming around lights and hiding in clothes from Melbourne<\/a> to Sydney<\/a> over the weekend.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Bogong moths swarm east coast homes<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Thousands of people reported seeing the moths through the Invertebrates Australia-run website Bogong Watch.<\/p>\n

Bogong Watch project manager Linnea Emneby told Sunrise the phenomenon could have been caused by a bungled migration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are on their migration from the inland towards the alps and we think that they might have been displaced by the strong northwesterly winds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the sheer amount of moths involved in the migration could be a good sign for population numbers, according to Emneby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like there\u2019s also a really good year for bogongs in general,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers are like nothing we\u2019ve seen these last five years or more since the drought of 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PartsParts of eastern Australia have become inundated with swarms of endangered bogong moths during their annual migration. Credit: 7NEWS, Bongo Watch<\/p>\n

Despite being classified as endangered, the species isn\u2019t at risk due to low numbers, but rather because their summer habitats are becoming uninhabitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs temperatures rise with climate change, these rock shelters up in the mountains where they spend their summers are getting too warm for them to stay,\u201d Emneby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also that we\u2019ve built our homes in their migratory pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said moths are attracted to artificial light because they use the night sky, particularly the moon and stars, to navigate while migrating.<\/p>\n

For concerned residents currently dealing with the swarming moths, Emneby said they \u201cwill be gone soon\u201d but encouraged residents to get a glimpse of the endangered species while they still can.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Homes evacuated, arrests after suspected bomb plot near RAF base<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Hazard reduction burn overruns multiple fire trucks, 19 people assessed<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of thousands of giant moths have swarmed homes across Australia\u2019s east coast. Social media has been inundated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,1625,647,44,5847,128,14179,670,7481,338,438546],"class_list":["post-908303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-lifestyle","tag-melbourne","tag-news","tag-nsw-news","tag-science","tag-sunrise","tag-sydney","tag-vic-news","tag-wildlife","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}