Butterflies fill Austin's sky

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Thousands of butterflies flew into Austin Thursday afternoon, covering UT campus buildings and landing on the Frost Tower.

These butterflies, American Snout Butterflies to be exact, are not migrating, much to everyone's surprise. Instead, during times of extreme drought, their normal predators and parasites are weeded out and less predators means more butteflies.

So, what Austinites were seeing was actually an American Snout population burst. More butterflies survived the fall and now they are simply moving - not migrating - after some rains came through Central Texas.

American Snouts are native to Texas. They feed on a plant called spiny hackberry, a plant commonly found in South Texas. They are smaller than a monarch butterfly and much less colorful.

This is not the first time butterflies have taken a Texas town by surprise.

"Back in September 1921 in the San Marcos area, there was a major movement of these butterflies that lasted 18 days," said Michael Warriner, invertebrate biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. "It was estimated that 25 million butterflies per minute passed over the San Marcos area heading to the Rio Grande River."

Interestingly enough, the butterflies Central Texans encountered Thursday are the ones that will survive the winter. They will hibernate and come out later and lay eggs. These butterflies will live anywhere from four to six months. Usually, these butterflies only survive a few weeks during the summertime.

Just one of those natural phenomenons.