Lightning Bugs.

Originally posted by solsticks
reply to post by Deebo

 

Once my daughter caught a jar of them, and put them by her bed...but forgot and left the cap off...and that night and the next day...you've got it. Fireflies, all over (: We caught them and let them go. We have gagillions of them here near Ann Arbor, but we are out in the country. It is an amazing site from the beginning of July till the end. Enjoy the beauty. Maybe, you are just now noticing??? just a thought.

Indeed a beautiful site, but no not just now noticing them.. They were not here before. Others in this area have mentioned them too.


Deebo

I have lived in various parts of the country and have always seen everywhere I've been...except maybe Oregon, but they are probably there are well...just wasn't paying attention. Best place to see them is out in the woods away from city lights. Ozarks are full of them....but right now...extremely hot, so maybe not so much

I'm 26 now but I grew up in upper Michigan right on Lake Michigan and remember them invading the front yard from time to time. It's the coolest thing to see all these little flickering lights. My daughter is 3 and it saddens me to think the only lightning bug she will ever know will be Ray from The Princess and the Frog.

I've lived 35 minutes north of Bronx, NY for 35 years. As long as I've been here there's been an abundance of lightning bugs. The hotter and more humid nights is when I see the most of them. I haven't seen a decrease in numbers over 35 years over here.

Someone mentioned that they glow yellow? Usually the color that they glow around here is green. When I was a kid, I swear I remember seeing a clear or white color coming from a lightning bug as well a seeing a red one. I was a kid(maybe with an over active imagination) and haven't seen anything but green lightining bugs since being a teen and adult. I'm just wondering if the yellow color that was mentioned is the same color that I'm seeing as green? If I actually did see those other colors when I was a kid, then I guess any color could be possible. If these other colors do actually exist then they are quite rare and probably not seen to often or by most people. Has anybody out there ever seen other color variations of the quite awesome lightning bugs?

reply to post by efbeenie


While you probably did have an overactive imagination as a child (who didn't?!), you probably did see one with a red glow. I've seen a couple of them too but nowhere as much as I have seen ones that glow green.

With that said, I too have noticed that the lightning bugs have thinned out in the Ozarks. My dogs used to chase them but since we haven't seen many, they're missing out on the fun this year.

I remember catching these in a jar as a kid at my Nana's house!

I dont see them in Florida where I live but my friends who live in the woods so to speak say they see them out there. I didn't know they were even in Florida. When I saw them I was always up north.

reply to post by efbeenie


Red fireflies do exist. I have seen them down south. Not sure about the white variety though.

Glad to hear that the red ones are out there and that I actually remember something from so long ago. I'd like to think that a white/clear one is not out of the realm of possibility, but like I said unless someone else has seen one than either I was imagining it or was the luckiest person ever to have caught a glimpse.

There is not a lot of information available on firefly populations. For the past several years it has been thought that the population may have been in decline. Recently a rebound in numbers has been noted in some areas.

here is an article about a study that was started last year regarding firefly populations:
Population Study

It is thought that fireflies stay in the area where they were as larva so that a population once lost will not reestablish itself without assistance.

I've been thinking about fireflies all day now. I just found this bit of info:

"The timing and pattern of the flashing seems critical and varies by species. The light colors of the firefly can also vary by species and can be yellow, green, orange, or red. Some type of lightning bugs can produce two different colors of light."
I got this bit from this website: www.plumcreekmarketing.com...

I don't know if they are experts, but it seems like they know what they are talking about. It also claims in there that some species of firefly(it claims that there are 2000 species) eggs glow after the female lays them.

I guess my imagination was pretty good back in the days as far as me seeing a white/clear firefly. It would be awesome to see the red one again as well as yellow and orange, also the one that glows 2 different colors would be amazing to see!

I've lived in Michigan all my life and have always seen lightning bugs...every year. Some years there's more and some years less but I see them every summer. I have noticed however there seems to be an abundance of them this year. I live near Detroit and our back yard is just teeming with them. It seems the hotter and muggier it is the more I notice them in large numbers.

Funny you should say that! I live in Michigan myself and very rarely seen Lightening Bugs (Fireflys), and the past year ive seen a ton. Once when I was walking the pathway to go to Metro Beach it was dark and we look to the field next to us and theres thousands, it was beautiful. And another time I came home and saw them all hovering over the grass.

Its pretty neat and a beautiful sight.

Fire Flies!!!

There are some famous one in the Smoky Mountains. For about 10 days at the start of June the little buggers flash together. The park service has had to start running trollies up to the viewing area.

I hate crowds so I haven't been to see it, but I'm told it is quite the site!

Originally posted by efbeenie
Glad to hear that the red ones are out there and that I actually remember something from so long ago. I'd like to think that a white/clear one is not out of the realm of possibility, but like I said unless someone else has seen one than either I was imagining it or was the luckiest person ever to have caught a glimpse.

The only fireflies I've seen here in Canada appear to have been a light yellow/white-ish colour...

I remember squishing them and smearing their glow on our bodies like war paint, and going to play a game of late-night lazer tag And now that I think of it, that's utterly disgusting!

I've never seen or even heard of green or red ones!

a reply to: efbeenie

Around my parts they glow yellow. As a kid I remember some glowing green, and a few glowing red. I also think some had a "white" glow. Some years I notice them having slight venerations in shades of yellow/green so I think this is somewhat normal.

A couple weeks ago I turned off the bedroom light and a BRIGHT white LED light flashed in many directions in a strobe like manner.
I freaked out, turned the light on and NOTHING was there!
I turned the light back off and it happened again, only this time it was heading right for me!
I turned the light on and rolled over to the other side of the bed in order to avoid it, but nothing was there. I looked around and noticed a small black dot on the wall, I got closer and it was a lightning bug.
Odd looking one too, kind of thin and the outline color on it's wings was...different, like much lighter than normal.
I put it outside and hoped it would mate to produce other bright white strobing LED lightning bugs.

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