Their decline has been so sad. I moved somewhere with fireflies in 2007. The first year they were everywhere. The second year less so and they were completely gone by 2010. I always tried to leave longer grassy areas for them but they were just… gone. It was so so so sad. I didn’t grow up with them and that first summer was enchanted and magical.
I have great memories of walking down the road on a hot night with thousands of slowly blinking balls of light. The person who lives in that place now probably doesn’t even know that fireflies are supposed to be in the area.
Stopped mowing our farm, lightning bugs are back in swarms. It’s great.
I haven’t seen a firefly since I was a small child. I’ve never really thought about them before, but it is kind of sad not seeing them. Generally I hate bugs, but fireflies are pretty.
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We used to catch them in jars as kids growing up in rural south. Tired to see who could get the most, then release them and watch them all make a show.
Throughout my millennial decades they’ve gone from indigenous to childhood memories :(.
We used to have thousands of these in my backyard as a kid every summer. Now I rarely see them. We’ve done a great job at destroying our ecosystems in record time. We’re so fucked
I was pretty freaked out the first time I saw fireflies while stationed in the South. At first I thought I was hallucinating. Then I wondered if I was seeing aliens or something. Finally one got close to my face and I snatched it out of the air. When I opened my hand there was a little bug sitting there blinking, and I was amazed. They’re honestly the coolest creatures I’ve ever seen on this earth.
I’ve always called them fireflies growing up but it seems like that’s dependent on where you grew up
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Orangutan
In French they’re called lucioles and I find that very cute
The colors are wrong. Color me triggered.
Like the bugs 😭
Curious what country, article is from Rochester NY it seems
Wow, didn’t know they were poisonous
They were everywhere in my old home state. I have not seen them in decades now. I miss them.
They thrive if you don’t use pesticides and leaf blowers. I have fireflies where I live in CT. Bonus points for letting the grass grow, though that may also attract rodents and look unsightly to the neighbors.
Attracting rodents with tall grass saves me money in cat food
Lightning bugs are really cool! Where I live, people are usually surprised to find out that there are dozens of species native to the region.
A few years ago, I went on a trip to a different part of the US and they had a species of lightning bug where they all flash synchronously. Instead of flying around the yard, blinking seemingly at random like all the lightning bugs I’d ever seen up to that point, the synchronous ones crawled around in the bushes and trees and then when they flashed, they all flashed at the same time. It was super cool to see.
Another thing I’ve noticed about adult lightning bugs is that the populations can vary greatly from year to year around here. We might have a year or two with large numbers of them each night during the warmest parts of the year, then a year where they are few and far between.
They’re also a water quality indicator.
Funny, so is your mom
I love when people find out about stuff that delights them ^^
Truly magical critters. Used to be at Gran’s farm as a kid and catch em in your hands. Fields were just covered in em. Great memories.
Haven’t been back in ages… I wonder how it’s looking these days.
Dark
Unfortunately, good chance of that. :l
this year is a huge one for these guys in my area. walking around at dusk has been an amazing light show. i feel blessed
You are! They’re one of the very few sources of magic left in this world.
Only a few years ago, I found fireflies living near me. I never knew they existed in Europe.
Government decided to level their habitat though. They’re building a wildlife rescue center, ironically.
I miss them. 😭🥹
One of the more annoying things about living in Florida is that we have closely related animals that are nearly identical, but they don’t have glow-butts. (At least not down in the bottom half of the state.)
I’ll wait for someone from like Lakeland to say they have them.
I remember those as a kid! Total tease
In a another life those were everywhere. Now notsomuch
I am fairly certain that they are merely holding the eye of Sauron
