Nocturnal creature - Fireflies

In my area of MD I have seen a decline of firefly's at least around me. It seemed like 5 years or so ago I started seeing less and less of them. I am not sure if its just my memory makes me THINK that there were more years ago or what but it definatley seems like there are less in my neighborhood.

Still fireflys are cool and fun when your sitting on the back porch watching them light up the dark.
 
Great thread but it makes me mad at myself. I spent the best part of firefly season in a place I'd never been so I spent a lot of time taking pictures of new plants and aninmals...and some familiar animals. But I'd sit outside the cabin every night marveling at the hundreds of fireflies around me never once thinking to try to capture them on "film".
 
Great photos and thread! I don't know what happened this year, but we've had a amazing crop of fireflies at my house. They started in May here and have not let up in their appearances since. There were tons of them out last night again in my back yard. It has been a welcome sight.
 
The pics are great. One of our favorite places to camp has an abundance of fireflies and we enjoy them very much. It brings back memories from not only my childhood but from when my son was younger. Thanks for posting.
 
barrabas74 said:
In my area of MD I have seen a decline of firefly's at least around me. It seemed like 5 years or so ago I started seeing less and less of them. I am not sure if its just my memory makes me THINK that there were more years ago or what but it definatley seems like there are less in my neighborhood.

Still fireflys are cool and fun when your sitting on the back porch watching them light up the dark.
Click to expand...

As far as decline of these insects, we have same thing here in Japan.
Glad to hear you love these mysterious creatures too, barrabas74 and thanks for your responce.

mistwalker said:
Great thread but it makes me mad at myself. I spent the best part of firefly season in a place I'd never been so I spent a lot of time taking pictures of new plants and aninmals...and some familiar animals. But I'd sit outside the cabin every night marveling at the hundreds of fireflies around me never once thinking to try to capture them on "film".
Click to expand...

That's a pity but it's quite envious for me to hear you have so many
fireflies around you.

ejes said:
Great photos and thread! I don't know what happened this year, but we've had a amazing crop of fireflies at my house. They started in May here and have not let up in their appearances since. There were tons of them out last night again in my back yard. It has been a welcome sight.
Click to expand...

Thanks ejes and that's so nice to hear you have so many of them around your property.
Please post the picture of them if you please.

fishiker said:
The pics are great. One of our favorite places to camp has an abundance of fireflies and we enjoy them very much. It brings back memories from not only my childhood but from when my son was younger. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...

Fishiker, thank you for your kind post and well said about the memory of
childhood. I don't know why but I totally agree with you about that.
 
rksoon said:
I've never seen a firefly yet. Hope to someday. :thumbup:
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Borders on tragic, doesn't it? As a kid growing up, there were lots of them. Far as I recall, its been decades since I last saw them! :(
 
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fujita yuji said:
Neither do I. cruciata (major firefly here in Japan) flash for a few or ten seconds and fade for
ten seconds or so. Males are bigger and brighter than females.
Synchronous flashing is not widely known and I haven't seen neither.
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Wow that is a long time to stay lit.

I live in the north-eastern US, here the fireflies flash brightly for about one second, and the light stops abruptly, not fading out.

The ones in my yard wait a long time before flashing again, 10 seconds or more.

This makes them very hard to find and catch. :(
 
This weekend while backpacking, I noticed the behavior of the local species in the hills. They liked the open areas among trees for mass congregations, and the spot near the shelter was littered with them. It was an eerie magical feeling, watching probably over 75 fireflies in a clustered area try to woo each other with their bioluminescence.

Ya'll probably know this, but the firefly is actual a beetle. The larvae can inject an anesthetic, ( I don't think it is a venom) that immobilizes prey and helps out with digestion. Some species of adult fireflies will mimic the flash pattern of other ones in order to attract and eat 'em. Aggressive Mimicry

So a normal light bulb only gives off approximately 10% of light, the rest is energy lost through heat. A fluorescent bulb is much better, but still gives off heat. The bio-luminescence found in a lightning bug is 100% light, no heat. One website says that scientists call this "cold light"
http://www.thaibugs.com/Articles/fireflies.htm
 
Joezilla said:
This weekend while backpacking, I noticed the behavior of the local species in the hills. They liked the open areas among trees for mass congregations, and the spot near the shelter was littered with them. It was an eerie magical feeling, watching probably over 75 fireflies in a clustered area try to woo each other with their bioluminescence.

Ya'll probably know this, but the firefly is actual a beetle. The larvae can inject an anesthetic, ( I don't think it is a venom) that immobilizes prey and helps out with digestion. Some species of adult fireflies will mimic the flash pattern of other ones in order to attract and eat 'em. Aggressive Mimicry

So a normal light bulb only gives off approximately 10% of light, the rest is energy lost through heat. A fluorescent bulb is much better, but still gives off heat. The bio-luminescence found in a lightning bug is 100% light, no heat. One website says that scientists call this "cold light"
http://www.thaibugs.com/Articles/fireflies.htm
Click to expand...

You must have got some pictures out there!

And as you said, firefly lights are extraordinary compared to our method of
lightnings that every part of their energy is transformed into light.
Although they are sometimes mentioned as "cold light", I think they are rather "cool light".
 
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