They are just thick out here....looking out the windows at night you can see them flashing all over....(summer time only)

Right now I'll settle for seeing green popping out on the trees.

patti

From: National Geographic

Everyone knows how fireflies got their name, but many people don't know how the insects produce their signature glow. Fireflies have dedicated light organs that are located under their abdomens. The insects take in oxygen and, inside special cells, combine it with a substance called luciferin to produce light with almost no heat.

Firefly light is usually intermittent, and flashes in patterns that are unique to each species. Each blinking pattern is an optical signal that helps fireflies find potential mates. Scientists are not sure how the insects regulate this process to turn their lights on and off.

I have so many great memories of Lightening bugs (as we called them) when I was growing up. We seldom see them here now. Wonder why?

We call them Lightening bugs too,Maryann.

They arrive here later in the spring. When I turn off all the lights downstairs at bedtime, I like to look around and see how many are in the house. There's always at least a few.

Thanks for the lesson, Gayle!

I grew up in MO and we had lots of them every summer. Here in WA we don't have them and my husband tried bringing them back on the plane, years ago when our kids were young. A few were still alive when he got home but after we released them we never saw them again. Pat

Twinkie and I do the same thing.....

We still have them...just seeing them brings back lots of fond memories of catching them in jars with holes punched in the lids!

We don't have them here in California and I have never been able to find out why.
When I would take the kids to visit my grandparents in Tennessee they loved catching them.
There has got to be a good reason why they don't exist here.

I love seeing Ligtning bugs and all the memories of the past, a great love of the outdoors playing at night. Children don't do that much any more.

Woke up with my bed fan flashing. Duh, lighning bug found its want into my bedroom and perched on my fan!

Flicked him off, and haven't seen him since.

buttercups and lightning bugs. sure sign of summer and brings back childhood memories. hate to admit it, but there were times we would pull off the tail as it was lit and use it as a ring. i couldn't imagine doing that today.

maryanne

I haven't seen any lightening bugs here yet, but the mosquitoes are sure out!

Might be pesticides, Maryann. We have a lot of them here. I am so far off the road that even when the county sprays, they don't get it back here.

LOL! Cute post. I pictured DH's butt glowing. I think I would be impressed. Depends on the day. Haha!

Thanks for the giggle. :)

Lightening bugs are temperature sensitive. It requires a warm, humid evening/night to get a good display. Lightening bugs are prevalent in southern IL, but there are only a few in southern WI, and I don't recall seeing them in northern WI.

We get lightning bugs here in NY during the summer. When I was young, we used to catch them in a glass jar and observe them for a few minutes (no lid on, just our palm covering it). When we let them out of the jar, we'd try and follow them through the night sky. It always amazed us.

If you go out digging in your yard, in late spring you will likely find "glowworms". These are the larvae of fireflies and have a glow on their tail ends too.

Do any of you remember the song from back in the '50's . It was made famous then done by the Mills Brothers, but I think the song was written much earlier than that.

The Glow-worm Song

Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Lead us lest too far we wander.
Love's sweet voice is calling yonder.
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer.
Hey, there don't get dimmer, dimmer.
Light the path below, above.
And lead us on to love!
Glow little glow-worm, fly of fire.
Glow like an incandescent wire.
Glow for the female of the species.
Turn on the AC and the DC.
This night could use a little brightnin'.
Light up you little ol' bug of lightnin'.
When you gotta glow, you gotta glow.
Glow little glow-worm, glow.
Glow little glow-worm, glow and glimmer.
Swim through the sea of night, little swimmer.
Thou aeronautical boll weevil.
Illuminate yon woods primeval.
See how the shadows deepen, darken.
You and your chick should get to sparkin'.
I got a gal that I love so.
Glow little glow-worm, glow.
Glow little glow-worm, turn the key on.
You are equipped with taillight neon.
You got a cute vest-pocket mazda.
Which you can make both slow and faster.
I don't know who you took a shine to.
Or who you're out to make a sign to.
I got a gal that I love so.
Glow little glow-worm, glow.

We don't use Pesticides in the yard and we have a very high humidity. That in itself attracts Fireflys. They fly really close to the ground here.

I read about the Glowworms, but I don't think I have seen them.

I think that they are just one of God's special little treats for us to enjoy.

Gayle

We don't have lightning bugs here in Oz either. It's one of the few things I really miss sometimes (I left Ohio as a child).

The last few years in Se Minnesota we've had a bunch of them. I've only found a glow worm once. My daughter was 8 or 9 and sleeping on the top bunk. In the middle of the night she comes in, wakes me and says "Dad, there's a light that keeps going on and off outside my window." After questioniong her and looking around we found a glow worm on the edge of a flower bed outside her window.

Ron

We get them here a lot and love to sit around watching them. Last year they were really thick. Woody found one stuck in a spider's web outside the kitchen and took the flashing to mean SOS so he saved it. lol Too bad for Spidey.

I remember chasing them along the Milwaukee River in WI when I was a kid. We weren't allowed to capture them, though.

They are such neat creatures, to my knowledge we don't have them up here in BC, wish we did...
But Gayle, thanks for reminding me, I wanted to ask you where you found that adorable lantern with the 'Fireflies' in that you sent your swap partner...or did you make it?
Suzan J

No, I didn't make it. But, I bet if you go to Hobby Lobby and get the batteries and mini lights, buy a few bugs to glue on...I bet you could make it. I'd kinda like to have one too! LOL!

Gayle

Did you know you can order fake fireflies? Not as good as the real thing, but it might evoke good memories for some of you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Electronic fireflies....

We get them here in SW Pa. and one of the funniest things to watch, is when one gets into the house and terrorizes the cats.....

Neat lights Flamingo. I'd love to have the multi-light show! Main Man's Son has a dog that "flips out" when it sees flickering light. He tries to bite it. He'd go insane over those lights.

I can better afford the "free ones". LOL!

Gayle