These Moths Are a Thrilling Sight in Australia

For Australians yanking open curtains, a fluttering surprise is back, and it's a welcome one. After a collapse of roughly 99.5% of their population during droughts in 2017 and 2018—which continued a decline that began in the 1980s due to factors like insecticides and habitat reduction—bogong moths are again sweeping across southeastern Australia. That's thrilled scientists who feared their iconic migration, which runs from September to November and sees the moths travel as many as 600 miles, per the Guardian, might dwindle to nothing. The insects were listed as endangered in 2021, reports Australia's ABC.

Citizen science site Moth Tracker, which was established in 2019, has logged about 4,000 reports since early September, about half of which have been analyzed; of those, they've verified 1,600 bogong sightings. That's well up from the best year the tracker had previously recorded: 1,950 reports and 1,089 confirmed moths in 2024. The New York Times talks to scientists and Australians about the apparent reemergence of the brown moths, which are a food source for the critically endangered mountain pygmy-possum. Researchers say cooler, wetter conditions supported the rebound, but warn climate change could lead to future threats. "They still need a lot of help and they still face some serious battles," says Marissa Parrott, Moth Tracker's co-lead.