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cuffs054

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For years it's been a dry spring/early summer here in middle GA. This year we have gotten a ton of rain. Wet ground and broken lawn tractor has enabled the back yard to go crazy.
Tonight (rain just stopped) the entire back yard is alive with lighting bugs! Absolutely magical!
 
When I was growing up I remember seeing a lot of those.

Down here in Texas I don't see any at all. Period. Some people say we used to have them but when all the refineries were built the lightning bugs disappeared.

For those not familiar with the term we are talking about fireflies.
 
There's an annual pilgrimage to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at this time of year to see the synchronized "fireflies" (that's what the Park Service calls them, though we always said "lightning bugs" growing up).  Apparently that's the only place in the world they blink on and off simultaneously.

 

I'm always happy to see them. You know it's really summer!
 
We had some intermittently in Austin. None here (DFW). They were everywhere when I was a kid. So many you could catch dozens in a jar. I don't know where they went. It's not my fault, I always let them go.

There's hardly crickets anymore. Or frogs either. About all we've got left are junebugs and locusts. Oh, and ticks with lime disease and mosquitoes with west nile disease.

Might we have done something wrong?
 
luciferin and luciferase

In June of 1971, I stayed at a friend's house while he was in Europe. It was in an old part of town with huge trees along both sides of the deep back yard with English ivy on the trunks. On the first night, I got up to turn off the noisy Coldspot air conditioner and as I looked out through the window, I thought I must be dreaming. From ground level way up into the trees, the whole yard was lighted with twinkling lightning bugs. I had to wipe my eyes to be sure of what I was seeing. Thomas Kincaid would have had an orgasm. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed.

I found out why they died if left in a jar overnight: they dehydrate. They are very dependent on a moist atmosphere for staying hydrated.
 
Growing up in Maryland I vividly remember chasing the Fireflys (Lightning Bugs) when I was little. They were very common on Summer nights and I remember that their flashes were quite bright.

After we moved to Minnesota it was over 20 years till I finally saw them again, I had long figured that we just didn't have them here. I first spotted them over a farm field south of the twin cities. I have never seen them in my suburban backyard in MN.

The ones I have seen here don't seem to have as long a flash duration and they are quite a bit less bright as well. I guess I assume that the species that can survive here is just slightly different.

We are starting to see Japanese Beetles here now in the past few years also. As the climate changes we'll likely watch more of these changes happening.
 
Right, Phil, each species has a different flash pattern and duration and then there is some predator that stays on the ground like the females (that are also called glow worms) and mimics the answering flash to capture and eat the males when they land to mate. Yikes! At least male spiders and praying mantids get to mate before being devoured.
 
I usually see some around this time here in Springfield, but none so far this year. I might have to venture out later this evening and see if there's any around in other areas besides where I live.
 
fake but fun

Many years ago I went to visit friends in Kansas City in July. Having been a Californian all my life I never saw fireflies before. I was fascinated. The locals thought I was crazy for spending so much time outside in the heat and humidity watching them.

I recently purchased a double set of electronic fireflies from "Firefly Magic" and will be installing them in my patio. They're similar to the fireflies you see in Disneyland's & Disneyworld's "Pirates of the Caribbean"/"Blue Bayou Restaurant." Of course nothing beats the real thing I'm sure but all you get here in the desert are crickets, outdoor roaches and black widow spiders...no fun at all.


twintubdexter++6-19-2013-13-57-47.jpg.gif
 
I've seen them around here but not often. The county sprays for mosquitoes - planes and trucks - all the time and I think that is why I don't see many. We had them in Plano (Texas) where I grew up north of Dallas. I suspect insecticides are the main reason we don't see them in cities anymore. Out in the country, I see them all the time.

 

Those Firefly Magic sets are cool! I may have to get some.
 
That's one of the things I miss about the east coast. I don't miss the accompanying mosquitoes, though ;-).

I think California should relax its pest control regulations and allow mass quantities of fireflies to be imported into the state and released each spring.
 
they started here in Jersey......and for some reason they seem brighter than when we were kids...the woods light up like clear flashers on a xmas tree.....its actually a calming show.....

now that you mention it, there hasn't been a cricket in the house yet!...I always seem to get one...it's supposed to be good luck to have one in your home, old myth!...have not heard them outside yet either....curious...
 

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