The bush offers many rain-predicting omens, but it is a swarm of ground lice that has western Queenslanders talking about big falls this week.
Longreach local Ingrid Miller spotted a mass of the creepy critters when working near Ilfracombe this week and got some footage of the spectacle, which has taken off on Facebook, being shared over 400 times.
"I'd say their trail stretched for almost 1 kilometre and the road they were travelling on was covered in grey," Ms Miller said.
"Most of them seemed to be babies - around 5 to 8mm long.
"I had no idea the video would go so viral."
Ms Miller's post was flooded with comments saying that the mob of lice was an indication of generous rainfall, with many in the area saying the last time they saw the bugs in such large numbers was decades ago, when western Queensland experienced some flooding in the summer of 2000.
"People say such a mass movement of them is meant to be a sign of rain, let's hope so!" Ms Miller said.
"I've never seen them like that at all, but I have heard people older than me talk about it prior to a big wet.
"You might see a few here and there when digging in the garden, but I've never come across millions like that in an open paddock before."
Blackall locals last saw huge numbers of the lice around the late 1980's when Lake Eyre filled after a La Nina, much like that predicted this summer.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted small falls for the Ilfracombe area over the weekend and into next week, but nothing to write home about, so locals are hoping the lice may know more than the weather experts in this case.
