We don't have them where I live, but I have seen them in my travels. Nice.

Saw them two nights ago but none since then.

Oh I love them. It will be a few more weeks until they come out here. We have fewer than we used to since people use grub control on their lawns and it kills the lightening bugs too.

we have the miller moths here is SD. It seems like by the millionsI don't know how many I have killed in the house everyday

I've never seen lightning bugs in person.

Elmer, Disneyland's lightning bugs at the entrance to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride are pretty close to the real ones, which don't have any wires.

I've heard they are getting quite rare, but we still have them here.

Maybe they are just moving to new places, we watched them a week ago as we sat by a fire. I had never seen them in MN before. We used to see/capture many of them in Iowa when we would visit the in laws.

We don't have as many as we used to so it's a little thrill when they do happen to light up.

Ours showed up here in central OK about 2 weeks ago. Hubs & I sit on the patio and watch them in the back yard.

Our back yard is wooded, not to heavily, and they seem to favor that area best. I've noticed too, if I run the sprinkler about 30 minutes before dusk, there are more, although not nearly as many as there used to be. I'm sure it's because of pesticides.

Like bpath, they were the magic of youth!

I just saw my first of the season two nights ago, here in the Philly area/ They only last a couple of weeks, because it's mating behavior.

saw quite a few in our backyard last night. DS saw his first about 3 days ago at his GF's house , about 2 miles from our house... she has a wooded lot behind her house

they are the cutest!!

I know they are just arriving, because usually I see droves of them come up out of the corn field after dark. Corn here isn't knee high yet (not until July!), let alone tall as an elephant's eye.

shielajoyce, I haven't been to Disneyland in a long time (maybe 10 years?) and while Pirates is a favorite, I don't remember what you've mentioned. But hopefully if I get there again, I'll give it a look.

I saw the first one this season evening before last ... we're just getting started. I think wet summers are good for their larvae, and last summer was typical so I expect a typical amount this year -- not a bumper crop, but not a sparse showing. We shall see!

Did you know that even the larvae and the pupae glow in the soil? I've read that the eggs of some species glow, too.

We have them in droves here; am always glad to see the first twinkle of the season.

They're such a nice memory from my childhood in the Midwest. We seem to be lightning bug-less here in SoCal. I haven't seen a single one since moving here as a kid 48 years ago.

I saw them for the first time around ten years ago, when we visited Maryland for a family reunion. I was fascinated!

Haven't seen any yet here at the farm but we usually have some for a while near the beginning of summer, usually near some trees near the house.

They help me, nearing my second childhood, remember my childhood on a farm near here.

ole joyfuelled

No science - just beauty.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fireflies&docid=608007432841202025&mid=213BFF61111C6D3F45AF213BFF61111C6D3F45AF&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

We had lots of them in my rural area growing up in Louisiana. They are here too but mostly in the forest areas around the creeks and bayous. We see them in our trees occasionally.

In summer I usually work in the garden until it is too dark too see what I'm doing, then I sit to cool down, watch the plants bobbling and bending in the breeze, watch the stars and say hello to the planets, watch the occasional neighbor stroll by. I always like to mark the night when I see the first lightning bug--or firefly as I have come to prefer calling them. Because this year I've been too darn tired to stay out after finishing gardening, I had missed looking for the first fireflies.

When I read your post two nights ago I went to the back porch, and there they were-- the first fireflies of the summer. Thank you for the nudge, schoolhouse.

I'm in Missouri, in a city, and the fireflies seem to be fewer each year. They are not rare, but it is no longer like living in an phosphorescent snow globe as it was 35 years ago.

There is an area in the Great Smoky Mountains that has synchronous fireflies. To see them, you have to enter a lottery for a parking ticket, then take a shuttle from the parking lot to the area of greatest activity. DD and I were going to try for a ticket this year to take the kiddos. It was, of course, canceled. I’ve got it on the calendar for next year.

HERE is a link to a You Tube video of the synchronous fireflies.

I have seen some here in the Dakotas. IN 2004 we were at the U of Maryland in June I think< for National History Day with our daughter and we saw a lot of them. It just amazed me.

I recently read that fireflies are bothered by artificial lights at night -- perhaps folk who are lighting up their yards/driveways for much of the night nowadays are contributing to the lack of fireflies in our yards. I miss them! One neighbor across our rural road began running their floodlights a couple of months ago every night starting at 8 PM until 4 AM. (grrrrr) That is mildly offensive to me, to say nothing of the fireflies.

I agree with with roxanna. Too much artificial light at night now days. I am surrounded by neighbors with pole lights, security lights, driveway lights, yard lights. An auto detailing place was built behind me across the field, been there for the last 10yrs. or so. They have three security lights across the front of their building.

Only in summer, when leaves are on the trees do I have a bit of darkness again, as they block out that building and the neighbors' lights. I do have a porch light I turn on in the evening, but I turn it off between 10:30p and 11pm.