{"id":863513,"date":"2026-09-28T12:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863513\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:26:17","slug":"endangered-bogong-moths-swarming-into-homes-across-nsw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863513\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered bogong moths swarming into homes across NSW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reina Hill is playing the reluctant host to some unexpected visitors in her Batemans Bay home.<\/p>\n

Since Friday, her house has been swarmed by bogong moths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I walked out my door and was hit in the face by thousands of them,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I swear there was millions of them layered on various areas under my deck, under my eaves and all around the windows.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bogong moths covering on a house at Malua Bay. (Supplied: Sue McHutchison)<\/p>\n

Ms Hill was not\u00a0alone in noticing the sudden influx of the endangered insects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About 800 moth sightings have been logged on the citizen science platform iNaturalist since Friday, with more than\u00a0200 logged in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Every year, the peanut-sized moths migrate to the NSW Alps to escape the summer heat before returning to their inland breeding grounds in autumn.<\/p>\n

But the insect’s population has fallen steadily since the 1980s due to drought and warming temperatures.<\/p>\n

I<\/a>n 2017, numbers crashed<\/a> by as much as 99.5 per cent, and in 2021 they were listed as endangered<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Just trying to migrate’<\/p>\n

Western Sydney University Entomologist Eleanor Drinkwater told 702 ABC Sydney it was pleasing to see the moths in such significant numbers.<\/p>\n

“The last few years we haven’t seen so many bogong moths,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Drinkwater said the moths were on their way to the high country around Mount Kosciuszko as the weather warmed up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re not trying to get into your house, they’re just trying to migrate,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“For some of these little individuals that people might see, they’re going to be travelling hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres.”\"a<\/p>\n

Eleanor Drinkwater said the large numbers were a sign that something was going right. (Supplied: Eleanor Drinkwater)<\/p>\n

Bogong Watch Project manager at Invertebrates\u00a0Australia Linnea Emneby said many people had forgotten what a migration looks like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We have seen a decline in bogong moths this decade, which has changed people’s perception of what a migration looks like,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s just incredibly encouraging to see them actually bouncing back.”<\/p>\n

According to Ms Emneby, there were several theories that might explain the phenomenon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Linnea<\/p>\n

\u00a0Linnea Emneby manages the Bogong Watch Project at Inverterbrates Australia. (Supplied: Linnea Emneby)<\/p>\n

One is that increased\u00a0rainfall in northern parts of the state has produced an abundance of food for larvae.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another theory is that\u00a0warmer weather has caused the flowers that attract the moths to bloom earlier than normal, luring them south.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Ms Emneby said\u00a0the small creatures had likely used recent north-westerly winds to travel to the alps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Bogong moths are known to kind of hitch a ride on winds,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They’re very small creatures and they travel vast distances.<\/p>\n

“If there is wind going the way of the migration, they’ll fly at that level in the same way you descend or ascend in a hot air balloon.”<\/p>\n

Increase in numbers the ‘norm’\"Moths<\/p>\n

The moths may have hitched a ride on recent north-westerly winds. (Supplied: Marina Pitsonis)<\/p>\n

University of Sydney biologist Dieter Hochuli said the moths would be found hiding in crevices in the day to avoid predation by birds.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of birds and mammals and everything that’s going to want to eat them.,” Mr Hochuli told 702 ABC Sydney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So, basically, they’re just finding a good spot to spend the day.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

One 702 ABC Sydney listener said their boot was lined with moths in Penrith in Sydney’s west. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

The moths are a food source for many birds and pygmy possums.<\/p>\n

Mr Hochuli said while the moth was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), they were not listed as endangered in NSW or federally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The reason there are concerns is that they have these massive population fluctuations and cycles,” Mr Hochuli said.<\/p>\n

“They’re a complicated animal for an endangered animal because there could be billions of them.<\/p>\n

“Those of us that are old enough to remember the Sydney Olympics or the opening of Parliament House will remember we had similar kinds of events, just massive numbers.”\"A<\/p>\n

A bogong moth at Charlotte Pass, NSW. (Supplied: Associate Professor Kate Umbers)<\/p>\n

Dr Drinkwater encouraged capturing and releasing the moths if they were stuck inside, or turning outside lights on and turning indoor lights off to draw them out of homes.<\/p>\n

She also called for submissions of photos to iNaturalist and the Moth Tracker website to help researchers understand their migration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a brilliant opportunity for us to learn more about what they’re doing,” Dr Drinkwater said.<\/p>\n

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