Ladybeetles aggregate as summer wanes

Richard and I joined Sierra Club hike leaders John and Lucy, along with their friend Steve, on a hike through the redwood grove of Purissima Creek, near Half Moon Bay, today. Wildlife spotting began at Stonestown mall, where we met our ride in the morning and saw what appeared to be a falcoln or eagle with a huge wingspan, touch down in the parking lot. On the trail, Lucy keenly spotted a huge banana slug, which the rest of us would have missed because its coloring so closely matched that of the soil and the deacying leaves in the duff. Near the end of the hike, however, Richard noticed that what appeared to be berries on the blackberry bushes actually weren't berries at all, but were hoards of ladybugs. All of the "berries" in this photo are such beetles. According to wikipedia, ladybugs gather together on the south sides of trees and stalks when winter approaches, and remain in this configuration to overwinter. Then, in the springtime when spring approaches, they disperse. According to the ladybugs, autumn has arrived in coastal California, so it's time to aggregate. Are ladybugs the autumnal groundhog?