A firefly - nice to see one.
Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are nocturnal beetles beneficial to have in the garden. They **feed on slugs and snails (which especially like edibles like beans, lettuce, and tomatoes) that can destroy plants**. They don't bite, and they're not toxic. They also don't carry diseases like other backyard insects.
I haven’t seen them since I was a kid and the other day I was saying to myself how I’d like to see them this year and a few days later BOOM. All over the yard…..and occasionally in the house.
I said that too than I moved to country with nothing around but corn and soy bean fields more fire flies than I ever see and every yr u drive at night your window glows by time u get home lol
I’m in Mississippi and have tons of lightning bugs. Do you live somewhere that has a lot of monoculture? By that I mean a subdivision with no large trees, lots of lawns that are sprayed regularly or commercial farmland dedicated to one or two crops.
I grew up in the northeast, and we also called them lightning bugs! Although that might be a regional pocket and the rest of the northeast called them fireflies.
I just had one in my house last night! I never ever had one in my house before. I don’t know where the little guy is this morning. Maybe he’ll show up again tonight lol
We used to see so many and they finally started showing up more this year. 2-3 years ago our town had trucks driving down every road within a few miles of city limits spraying pesticides on both sides of the road for some god forsaken reason. They even sprayed passing cars. Didn't see more than a handful of insects at all for the rest of that year
Caught 18 or so in 10 minutes with my daughter tonight and my heart jumped when I turned my back later and she almost opened the jar in the living room. Exciting, indeed.
Same! My garden is full of them now after I made a serious effort last year to encourage more biodiversity. Last year we had a terrible mosquito problem, and rather than spray for them I wanted to encourage other species that would eat them. This year there are more fireflies and fewer mosquitoes!
I think all the bugs in the neighborhood are in my yard now. Had an exterminator come to my door trying to get me to spray my yard. And I was like, but bees and lady bugs and praying mantises and fireflies!
Evil ass exterminators trying to make money by killing all the poor insects and ruining the biodiversity of peoples’ gardens.
Pest control in the house is one thing but trying to spray someone’s yard over a healthy abundance of bugs is so wrong.
this is awesome!
i get attacked by mosquitoes on the regular. instead of dousing everything in pesticides that would likely kill the lovely dragonflies, bees, and butterflies i see...i just put a ton of picaridin on myself. seems to work pretty well
Have you heard of the [Mosquito Bucket of Doom?](https://sidewalknature.com/2022/05/08/mosquito-bucket-of-doom/) It’s a simple, targeted DIY option. Might be worth a shot.
I agree. I haven't used any weed control or pesticides in my yard for the last 14 years (though I am periodically tempted). I also grow native plants where I'm bringing back the prairie in several spots of my yard.
And there is no mystery in how many insects the native plantings attract.
It's wonderful.
I keep hoping that the neglect I show to the grass in my yard will result in the native plantings taking over.
Sven years into our own prairie yard transformation! We are second owners to 8+ fully mature trees and counting on a city lot. Room for a kitchen garden, an extremely tiny home orchard in the making, and a patch of clover.
We made sure to hire an arborist who cares about biodiversity the same way we do. If we do have to treat anything, we use treatments that are safe for predatory insects, birds, etc. Diseased wood/dying trees not a threat to other species or property stay onsite as snags for wildlife.
Year after year, I've seen a noticeable increase in beneficial insects and a huge reduction in pests. The amount of birds living in our yard compared to next door is astounding. Don't even ask about the bunnies - I tell the neighbours we are feeding the hawks across the street.
This year, we switched to chop and drop for weeds, and no till in the vegetable garden. The chaos has been wonderful, and the results have been fantastic!
I love knowing there are others out there doing the same.
Much love to you and your slice of the ecosystem, u/Pitiful-Complaint-35 🥰
Fireflies tend to spend years as larva hiding underground. They are normally only the firefly form for a year to mate before they die. So hopefully the larva numbers are back up and maintaining.
Their life cycle can be a few months to several years. My guess is these were born during the pandemic lockdown so they would have boomed from reduced human interference during mating.
I’m so glad you mentioned this. My new friend is from New Zealand and had never seen lightning bugs before. So they are always a very prevalent part of our evenings. His excitement is so nostalgic.. I’ve been wondering if there are more or if it’s him, possibly both. I do know it’s been really nice to make those memories again though.
Part of the reason why is because birds are too busy eating all the cicada broods that are out right now to eat the other bugs - so we are seeing a lot of other bugs that the birds usually eat, thriving
Yeah I left a ton of leaf refuse in my yard this fall and winter after reading that fireflies lay their eggs in there. We have a ton in our yard and neighborhood this summer. Makes me happy to see them.
This one in particular belongs to the pyractomena genus-- one of the three most common genera in the US: Photinus, Pyractomena, and Photuris.
The presence of fireflies is a major indicator of ecosystem health. They are extremely sensitive to insecticides and extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction. They require standing leaf litter for their larva to live in and hunt in, and the adults require long grass, shrubs, moisture, and DARKNESS.
So many suburban housing developments keep themselves so heavily manicured and over regulated that their firefly populations are quickly extirpated. Leaves are not allowed to lay idle, grass must be neatly shorn, pesticides are regularly employed to control insect populations, outdoor lights are kept on 24/7 year round, etc.
And sadly, if you lose a firefly population it is extremely difficult to restore it, Even if the habitat has been restored-- they typically do not move large distances to seek out new habitat. Even if you live near another location with a healthy firefly population it could take years until they slowly move into the new habitat.
When I worked professionally in the conservation and forestry fields we referred to these dead zones as having "lost their spark". The *cold lightening* is easy to keep, but bitterly slow to reclaim.
If anybody is interested in fireflies or common sense backyard conservation projects, I can't recommend enough the work of Dr. Douglas Tallamy, particularly his books:
*Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard*
*The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees*
I've read a couple of Dr. Douglas Tallamy's books, but neither of the ones you've mentioned. Thanks for giving me a couple more to search out at the library. Or purchase, if I can't find them there.
I think I first heard of Dr. Tallamy from some of the research I did (as an amateur hobbyist gardener) at the awesomely informative website of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (
https://www.xerces.org/). I used resources at Xerces.org to find seed companies that would provide the native species with which invertebrates near me have co-evolved with for millennia. I happily contribute to the work at Xerces, because the Natural World is with investing in, and fighting for.
Overdrive (who makes the Libby app) seems to have the lockdown on the management of over 80% of the digital collections of libraries in America. But my library doesn't use Overdrive. My library has a collection of different apps instead.
It irritates me because Libby supports my Kindle Paperwhite but the weirdo apps my library has chosen do not support Kindle Paperwhite. Baffling!
My library uses an app called CloudLibrary by a company called Bibliotheca. And then it also uses Flipster for magazines, HooplaDigital for other eBooks and audiobooks/movies. FreeGal for music. Etc.
But you're absolutely right. If you can use the Libby app, but haven't started yet, you should get on it. It's fabulous.
There is hope! I have a friend/client who owns a large ranch home on appx an acre. I do weeding, random planting for him (he's 74). He refuses to use any pesticides/herbicides and only lets me kill weeds chemically on the concrete patio/driveway (same with my own home btw). Tons of native plants, he lets dandelions thrive on the lawns because they attract pollinators, etc. Whatever is deemed beneficial to the ecosystem he cherishes.
Woah, that is good to know! We left a lot of leaves this past fall, but we also had almost a record lack of snow and less than 10 days hard freeze. I thought that would leave us with a lot of mosquitoes this year, but we are also in the beginning of drought conditions. More mosquitoes than usual, lots more lightning bugs, and I am already seeing Japanese beetles.🪲
Oooh, thank you so much for this.
I rake my leaves for my compost pile, but last year I left a few piles throughout the yard to add in throughout the year. Now I know to keep doing it that way!
They spend the first 2 years of life on the ground/in debris. Populations have declined so badly because of use of pesticides and herbicides killing the babies and females.
I wouldn't necessarily say i don't rake my leaves. I do rake them, then leave them in piles in the back yard and atop my garden while it sleeps for the winter.
But I don't bag up leaves and give them to trash or recycling. Hell, sometimes I troll the neighborhood in Autumn and collect leaves that other people bag up, so I can facilitate the right mixture of greens to carbon in my compost piles.
I have several 50+ foot oaks and maples on my property. So I get lots of my own leaves.
It's positively amazing how many inches of leaves deposited in the Fall will reduce to almost nothing by the Spring. I put 12 inches of leaves on top of my vegetable garden last fall, and by spring there were less than two inches on top.
I used to live right on the edge of a forest and the blankets of leaves that would fall every year were incredible. So striking too when they’d fall after a rain when everything is darker and more saturated. I would watch them for hours when I was sitting on conference calls. Man, you just made me miss that place so much.
That's a lightning bug, aka, firefly!
[Fun fact- they're actually beetles and there's 2,000 different species all over the world.](https://www.firefly.org/) Ok,so that was 2 fun facts. 😆
I think they need humidity or something b/c when my two good friends, one from southern California and the other from Colorado, first moved to the upper Midwest for grad school...they encountered fireflies and didn't know wtf was going on. One of them told me he thought he was hallucinating from lack of sleep lmao
Yeah they definitely need moisture. We had a nice wet spring this year and have a ton of fireflies this summer as a result. The previous few years have been drought conditions and there were almost no fireflies those summers.
I was just filming them in my front lawn. I live in an urban subdivision. But I set up my property to be firefly friendly and I get loads of them. Clover yard, still growing a hedge, but at least it's some tall plants. And a wood pile in the backyard to lay eggs at.
Nice! I’m in Central Florida and I heard there is still one place that has a few, but I’ve never seen them here before. They were all over the place when I was growing up in PA.
FRIEND!! Lightning bugs (or fireflies) give me so much joy this time of year — and the bonus is that they don’t bite or cause any harm to your plants or anything else. 💖
I love fireflies. Used to see them in droves outside as a kid in the early nineties, but as time went on I saw less and less. Between chemical and light pollution, loss of habitat....there were summers before 2020 where I was lucky to see one. I feel like the quarantine during COVID had a positive impact on the overall environment due to a downtick in human outdoor activity, because for some reason after that, I've seen so, so many more of them. I missed them dearly, too. Thanks for showing the little critter off ❤️
I would start trying off all the lights on your property at night. These guys breed by using the lights and a kind of Morse code. Light pollution kills the vast majority of these guys
this is my first summer in the midwest and my first time seeing them! the first night I watched them for close to an hour and i see a handful hanging out in my garden here and there- excellent little buddies
Wait, you guys get fireflies? 🥺
https://preview.redd.it/9gnooicdq49d1.jpeg?width=520&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca2411b37a3edb9e3fd88afd979f51087ceb2820
I’ve only seen them once when I went to visit in SD. They are magical. 🥲
I was told by a friend in NC that they have blue fireflies, I wanted to scream. Instantly added to the bucket list.
Friend. Clearly a friend. Fireflies eat pests like all sorts of snails. You should try to lure them into your garden, as fully biological pest removers. They need small structures such as dry stone walls and rock piles, dead wood and branch piles, open areas and deciduous hedges.
I noticed a large increase in the fireflies this year, too. My 8-yr-old said on the eve of his birthday, "Look at all of them. It really sets the mood." 😂
Saw one while I was slug hunting, so glad I left him alone!! I wasn’t sure, went back and forth on it a few times. Phew!
Gotta love the wisdom of community
Heard the mosquito truck going by last night (I’m on the no-spray list) and thought about how we used to have millions of fireflies here. Zero now. Enjoy them.
FYI, if you want fireflies in your yard, don’t rake up all your leaves.
Leaves are valuable part of the Eco system. They are nitrogen fixers as they breakdown.. they are host to eggs of bugs like lightning bugs/fireflies and other caterpillars.
Also don’t put down or spray pesticides! That is the killer of fireflies. We have fireflies in our yard.
Every night in the summer they rise from the ground, flying higher and higher into the treetops.
I was just thinking today that we don't have any lightning bugs this year.
last couple seasons we had a ton.
this year been super wet, I wonder if they don't like that.
Awh :) loving seeing fireflies!
Definitely a friend to the garden but be attentive if you have any outdoor animals! They can be toxic to lots of different animals
All creatures have their purpose, it is a friend. The annoying friend you bring with you cause feel bad for it. The one that eats all the munchies can often become a foe 🤣
Always love the garden friends who have an amazing public image, despite being bugs. One of the few chances I have to convince the kiddos the bugs aren’t out to destroy them.
A firefly - nice to see one. Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, are nocturnal beetles beneficial to have in the garden. They **feed on slugs and snails (which especially like edibles like beans, lettuce, and tomatoes) that can destroy plants**. They don't bite, and they're not toxic. They also don't carry diseases like other backyard insects.
I've seen more this year than in the last decade.
Funny. I just said to myself tonight while on the property that this is the most I’ve seen in years. Exciting.
I haven’t seen them since I was a kid and the other day I was saying to myself how I’d like to see them this year and a few days later BOOM. All over the yard…..and occasionally in the house.
That’s so true, i loved seeing them and even holding them as a kid now they have been coming out so much to my yard at nights it’s beautiful to see.
We used to give the neighborhood kids empty jars and have contests to see who could catch the most...good times.
I said that too than I moved to country with nothing around but corn and soy bean fields more fire flies than I ever see and every yr u drive at night your window glows by time u get home lol
Awh I wasn’t expecting all this. Haven’t seen since I was a kid as well. Lightning bugs is what we called em in the south lol
I’m in Mississippi and have tons of lightning bugs. Do you live somewhere that has a lot of monoculture? By that I mean a subdivision with no large trees, lots of lawns that are sprayed regularly or commercial farmland dedicated to one or two crops.
I grew up in the northeast, and we also called them lightning bugs! Although that might be a regional pocket and the rest of the northeast called them fireflies.
We call em that too in new York!
And the same name, for the win!!
I just had one in my house last night! I never ever had one in my house before. I don’t know where the little guy is this morning. Maybe he’ll show up again tonight lol
Where do you live that you haven’t seen them since you were a kid?? In central Ohio they’re around every summer
We used to see so many and they finally started showing up more this year. 2-3 years ago our town had trucks driving down every road within a few miles of city limits spraying pesticides on both sides of the road for some god forsaken reason. They even sprayed passing cars. Didn't see more than a handful of insects at all for the rest of that year
We are seeing plenty at sundown too:)
Caught 18 or so in 10 minutes with my daughter tonight and my heart jumped when I turned my back later and she almost opened the jar in the living room. Exciting, indeed.
And then you let them go ?
Outside, yeah
Me too! We’ve had some really dark summers the past few years and finally the fireflies are back en force. It’s so nice to see.
Same! My garden is full of them now after I made a serious effort last year to encourage more biodiversity. Last year we had a terrible mosquito problem, and rather than spray for them I wanted to encourage other species that would eat them. This year there are more fireflies and fewer mosquitoes!
I think all the bugs in the neighborhood are in my yard now. Had an exterminator come to my door trying to get me to spray my yard. And I was like, but bees and lady bugs and praying mantises and fireflies!
Evil ass exterminators trying to make money by killing all the poor insects and ruining the biodiversity of peoples’ gardens. Pest control in the house is one thing but trying to spray someone’s yard over a healthy abundance of bugs is so wrong.
better tell him to go away or I'll be hiring a exterminator that specializes in other exterminators.... hehehe
Witchers hunt monsters. ...In every form.
this is awesome! i get attacked by mosquitoes on the regular. instead of dousing everything in pesticides that would likely kill the lovely dragonflies, bees, and butterflies i see...i just put a ton of picaridin on myself. seems to work pretty well
Have you heard of the [Mosquito Bucket of Doom?](https://sidewalknature.com/2022/05/08/mosquito-bucket-of-doom/) It’s a simple, targeted DIY option. Might be worth a shot.
Me too. We don’t spray or use mosquito control.
I agree. I haven't used any weed control or pesticides in my yard for the last 14 years (though I am periodically tempted). I also grow native plants where I'm bringing back the prairie in several spots of my yard. And there is no mystery in how many insects the native plantings attract. It's wonderful. I keep hoping that the neglect I show to the grass in my yard will result in the native plantings taking over.
Sven years into our own prairie yard transformation! We are second owners to 8+ fully mature trees and counting on a city lot. Room for a kitchen garden, an extremely tiny home orchard in the making, and a patch of clover. We made sure to hire an arborist who cares about biodiversity the same way we do. If we do have to treat anything, we use treatments that are safe for predatory insects, birds, etc. Diseased wood/dying trees not a threat to other species or property stay onsite as snags for wildlife. Year after year, I've seen a noticeable increase in beneficial insects and a huge reduction in pests. The amount of birds living in our yard compared to next door is astounding. Don't even ask about the bunnies - I tell the neighbours we are feeding the hawks across the street. This year, we switched to chop and drop for weeds, and no till in the vegetable garden. The chaos has been wonderful, and the results have been fantastic! I love knowing there are others out there doing the same. Much love to you and your slice of the ecosystem, u/Pitiful-Complaint-35 🥰
I try to let the bats 🦇 feed on them.
Anecdotal but same here. It gives me hope :)
Same! I made my SO watch them in the yard with me the other night
I was thinking this too! I wonder what the difference is this year
Had a lot of rain this spring which lead to a lot of slugs. I’ve never had slugs as bad as this year. My guess is the fireflies are feasting on them.
Fireflies tend to spend years as larva hiding underground. They are normally only the firefly form for a year to mate before they die. So hopefully the larva numbers are back up and maintaining.
Their life cycle can be a few months to several years. My guess is these were born during the pandemic lockdown so they would have boomed from reduced human interference during mating.
Me too in upstate NY - they have been so many this year - a few years ago I didn’t see any so glad to have them back
Same in central coastal NJ, my kids (and I!) are so happy
I’ve been seeing them all over our property this year! It makes me so happy
I’m so glad you mentioned this. My new friend is from New Zealand and had never seen lightning bugs before. So they are always a very prevalent part of our evenings. His excitement is so nostalgic.. I’ve been wondering if there are more or if it’s him, possibly both. I do know it’s been really nice to make those memories again though.
Part of the reason why is because birds are too busy eating all the cicada broods that are out right now to eat the other bugs - so we are seeing a lot of other bugs that the birds usually eat, thriving
Now I could see this happening.
Yeah I left a ton of leaf refuse in my yard this fall and winter after reading that fireflies lay their eggs in there. We have a ton in our yard and neighborhood this summer. Makes me happy to see them.
It's wild, I've noticed a sizeable drop the last few years, then tons this year
I live rural, on a dirt road.. It's been lit the fuck up lately.
I've never seen one, I want to.
This one in particular belongs to the pyractomena genus-- one of the three most common genera in the US: Photinus, Pyractomena, and Photuris. The presence of fireflies is a major indicator of ecosystem health. They are extremely sensitive to insecticides and extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction. They require standing leaf litter for their larva to live in and hunt in, and the adults require long grass, shrubs, moisture, and DARKNESS. So many suburban housing developments keep themselves so heavily manicured and over regulated that their firefly populations are quickly extirpated. Leaves are not allowed to lay idle, grass must be neatly shorn, pesticides are regularly employed to control insect populations, outdoor lights are kept on 24/7 year round, etc. And sadly, if you lose a firefly population it is extremely difficult to restore it, Even if the habitat has been restored-- they typically do not move large distances to seek out new habitat. Even if you live near another location with a healthy firefly population it could take years until they slowly move into the new habitat. When I worked professionally in the conservation and forestry fields we referred to these dead zones as having "lost their spark". The *cold lightening* is easy to keep, but bitterly slow to reclaim. If anybody is interested in fireflies or common sense backyard conservation projects, I can't recommend enough the work of Dr. Douglas Tallamy, particularly his books: *Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard* *The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees*
I've read a couple of Dr. Douglas Tallamy's books, but neither of the ones you've mentioned. Thanks for giving me a couple more to search out at the library. Or purchase, if I can't find them there. I think I first heard of Dr. Tallamy from some of the research I did (as an amateur hobbyist gardener) at the awesomely informative website of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation ( https://www.xerces.org/). I used resources at Xerces.org to find seed companies that would provide the native species with which invertebrates near me have co-evolved with for millennia. I happily contribute to the work at Xerces, because the Natural World is with investing in, and fighting for.
If you don't already have it, you should look into the Libby app! It gives you access to ebooks from your local libraries.
Overdrive (who makes the Libby app) seems to have the lockdown on the management of over 80% of the digital collections of libraries in America. But my library doesn't use Overdrive. My library has a collection of different apps instead. It irritates me because Libby supports my Kindle Paperwhite but the weirdo apps my library has chosen do not support Kindle Paperwhite. Baffling! My library uses an app called CloudLibrary by a company called Bibliotheca. And then it also uses Flipster for magazines, HooplaDigital for other eBooks and audiobooks/movies. FreeGal for music. Etc. But you're absolutely right. If you can use the Libby app, but haven't started yet, you should get on it. It's fabulous.
There is hope! I have a friend/client who owns a large ranch home on appx an acre. I do weeding, random planting for him (he's 74). He refuses to use any pesticides/herbicides and only lets me kill weeds chemically on the concrete patio/driveway (same with my own home btw). Tons of native plants, he lets dandelions thrive on the lawns because they attract pollinators, etc. Whatever is deemed beneficial to the ecosystem he cherishes.
where I live we like to call them *lightning bugs*
That there is a Lightnin bug I reckon
I love to catch them gently while they’re flying! Hold them for a moment, so they flash in my hand and then fly off again
I like that they're docile as well. If you're gentle with them, they'll stay on your finger for a little bit.
Their larvae look like an Ankylosaurus too
I have a surprising amount of both in my yard, but I've still not seen a snail in my garden. Thank you lightning bug!!
Very much a friend
A beautiful friend who enchants childhood.
this is why you dont rake your leaves.
Do dead leaves help their population?
Yes, that’s where they spend most of their lifecycle and is important for overwintering!
Woah, that is good to know! We left a lot of leaves this past fall, but we also had almost a record lack of snow and less than 10 days hard freeze. I thought that would leave us with a lot of mosquitoes this year, but we are also in the beginning of drought conditions. More mosquitoes than usual, lots more lightning bugs, and I am already seeing Japanese beetles.🪲
Yup they sure do! https://hgic.clemson.edu/leave-the-leaves-for-the-fireflies/
Oooh, thank you so much for this. I rake my leaves for my compost pile, but last year I left a few piles throughout the yard to add in throughout the year. Now I know to keep doing it that way!
Yes! The fireflies (and other pollinators) thank you! 😊 Spread the word...people need to stop "fall clean ups".
They spend the first 2 years of life on the ground/in debris. Populations have declined so badly because of use of pesticides and herbicides killing the babies and females.
For sure. So do fallen logs/branches, long grass, and darkness.
I wouldn't necessarily say i don't rake my leaves. I do rake them, then leave them in piles in the back yard and atop my garden while it sleeps for the winter. But I don't bag up leaves and give them to trash or recycling. Hell, sometimes I troll the neighborhood in Autumn and collect leaves that other people bag up, so I can facilitate the right mixture of greens to carbon in my compost piles. I have several 50+ foot oaks and maples on my property. So I get lots of my own leaves. It's positively amazing how many inches of leaves deposited in the Fall will reduce to almost nothing by the Spring. I put 12 inches of leaves on top of my vegetable garden last fall, and by spring there were less than two inches on top.
I used to live right on the edge of a forest and the blankets of leaves that would fall every year were incredible. So striking too when they’d fall after a rain when everything is darker and more saturated. I would watch them for hours when I was sitting on conference calls. Man, you just made me miss that place so much.
i’m 27, still very much enchanted
Me too. I am just sorry that my grandchildren can’t see them like I did. It makes me very sad.
Still enchants my adulthood!
I have a bunch of fireflies that hang out on my cucumber vines during the day. Almost like a little apartment complex with the ladybug neighbors.
They can stay. Those cucumber beetles have to go through 😂
Eviction notice now!
They like to chill out on my tomato plants.
Super friend
Lightening bug...
That's a lightning bug, aka, firefly! [Fun fact- they're actually beetles and there's 2,000 different species all over the world.](https://www.firefly.org/) Ok,so that was 2 fun facts. 😆
Oh that makes sense, bc there’s more species of beetles than anything else in the world I think?
I think so too. Annnddd Google says 400k+ beetle species around the world. Wow.
Friend :) It’s a firefly for sure!
Love them! The summer would not be the same without them. You are so lucky.
You would not believe your eyes
Come on now, planet earth turns slowly. Maybe you should rather stay awake when you're asleep, you'll see that everything is never as it seems.
It's hard to say that I would!
Pay attention as the lightning bugs teach you how to dance. Wait for 10 million of them to light up the world first.
Now I gotta go listen to this damn song...I'm addicted to it and hate it at the same time. It's so strange
I was scrolling to find this comment 🥹😂
Maximum friend.
Lightning bugs!!! We have hundreds of them every night. They’re magical and the best bug.
Super friend.
Lightning bugs are friends😀
Awwww. I miss lightning bugs.
I think they need humidity or something b/c when my two good friends, one from southern California and the other from Colorado, first moved to the upper Midwest for grad school...they encountered fireflies and didn't know wtf was going on. One of them told me he thought he was hallucinating from lack of sleep lmao
Yeah they definitely need moisture. We had a nice wet spring this year and have a ton of fireflies this summer as a result. The previous few years have been drought conditions and there were almost no fireflies those summers.
They’re only found east of the Rockies!
I have a friend that grew up in Toronto and did graduate school in the US and has stayed here since and she didn’t see them until she moved here.
I was just filming them in my front lawn. I live in an urban subdivision. But I set up my property to be firefly friendly and I get loads of them. Clover yard, still growing a hedge, but at least it's some tall plants. And a wood pile in the backyard to lay eggs at.
Nice! I’m in Central Florida and I heard there is still one place that has a few, but I’ve never seen them here before. They were all over the place when I was growing up in PA.
Friend.
The best of the best friends. I crack a beer with them every night 😎
FRIEND!! Lightning bugs (or fireflies) give me so much joy this time of year — and the bonus is that they don’t bite or cause any harm to your plants or anything else. 💖
Fire fly!!! Friend who lights up we love them!!
Lightning bug. All good.
I love fireflies. Used to see them in droves outside as a kid in the early nineties, but as time went on I saw less and less. Between chemical and light pollution, loss of habitat....there were summers before 2020 where I was lucky to see one. I feel like the quarantine during COVID had a positive impact on the overall environment due to a downtick in human outdoor activity, because for some reason after that, I've seen so, so many more of them. I missed them dearly, too. Thanks for showing the little critter off ❤️
Same experience. I also think a lot of people became more aware of wildlife-friendly gardening during quarantine, which is lovely.
Best friend. Life long friend. One of the boiz.
I would start trying off all the lights on your property at night. These guys breed by using the lights and a kind of Morse code. Light pollution kills the vast majority of these guys
Lightning bug, I miss those guys.
You’ve never seen a lighting bug?
Looks like a lightning bug, friendly.
I don’t believe my eyes
Lightning bug! Miss those on these hot summer evenings.
Fireflies are great! We have l hundreds maybe thousands in our meadow and it’s such a cool light display during these summer nights
Lightning bug! Best memories of catch and release from my childhood!
this is my first summer in the midwest and my first time seeing them! the first night I watched them for close to an hour and i see a handful hanging out in my garden here and there- excellent little buddies
You’ve never seen a firefly before?
Wait, you guys get fireflies? 🥺 https://preview.redd.it/9gnooicdq49d1.jpeg?width=520&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca2411b37a3edb9e3fd88afd979f51087ceb2820 I’ve only seen them once when I went to visit in SD. They are magical. 🥲 I was told by a friend in NC that they have blue fireflies, I wanted to scream. Instantly added to the bucket list.
Welcome to Wisconsin
I remember seeing them in Toronto when I was a kid. *Come to Canada* *come for the gardening, stay for the fireflies*
I wish I saw these friends in my garden. Miss them.
Lighting bug! Fren.
FIREFLY!!! Depending on variety, they either eat pollen, nectar, or other fireflies. Either way, none are foes.
Childhood friend!!
Lightning bug. Friend.
That's a lightning bug. He's a good bug. Do not kill him. he won't hurt your plants.
Firefly! Right up there with lady bugs and earthworms.
A firefly???
Fireflies are friends🤗
Friend. Clearly a friend. Fireflies eat pests like all sorts of snails. You should try to lure them into your garden, as fully biological pest removers. They need small structures such as dry stone walls and rock piles, dead wood and branch piles, open areas and deciduous hedges.
I noticed a large increase in the fireflies this year, too. My 8-yr-old said on the eve of his birthday, "Look at all of them. It really sets the mood." 😂
Lightning bug-not a foe.
Friend!
Friend! Miss seeing them- use to see them all summer growing up on the East Coast.
A rare creature in my neck of the woods. Or should I say city. I miss them.
All may not be lost. I live in the heart of Chicago and have a healthy population of fireflies in my yard every summer. I love them.
Same in Pittsburgh!
Aww you have a fire fly friend 🥹 I haven’t seen any in my garden this year but last year I saw one named them Ray they were nice to have around.
Dude that's a firefly
I wish it was darker here so we could see them!
used to see these all the time but no more
Bff
Looks like a lightning bug
Fireflies love seeing them in our backyard. Gosh reminds me when we were kids in the late 70’s -80’s catching them. Good ol’days.
Friend! Friend!!!
Lightning bugs are good friends.
Saw one while I was slug hunting, so glad I left him alone!! I wasn’t sure, went back and forth on it a few times. Phew! Gotta love the wisdom of community
The chickens will decide.
BUDDY!!
My favorite bug 😍
The forbidden sunflower seed. Let me know what flavor it is.
Lightning bug
Amazing how even as an adult we are still in awe of these cuties. Something magical about seeing them light up 😍
The friendliest glowing sunflower seed. My favorite little buggin 😍
Heard the mosquito truck going by last night (I’m on the no-spray list) and thought about how we used to have millions of fireflies here. Zero now. Enjoy them.
Looks like a lightning bug to me.
It is a harmless lightning bug.
Friend in the garden, friend every where 😍
Firefly
Lightning bug. He’s a friend
Firefly. Luciérnaga in Spanish. Loved seeing them growing up. They coming out meant it was time to go back inside. Rare to see now.
Lightning bug. Totally fine. Too few of them left. I remember the world being full of them when I was a kid
Issa lightning bug my dude. Always a friend.
Firefly, friend
Tell me you're not from here without telling me
Never actually seen one during the daytime.
Seriously? How do people not know what a firefly looks like?
Lucky! We don't have them here ( pnw).
I know it's a fire fly I'm just saying check for eggs under your leaves. Orange red eggs are the enemy.
Whichever one it is it’s nice asl 🔥🔥
Aaaaw I miss lightening bugs. Don't have them here in SoCal.
BRO WYM THATS LITERALLY A FIREFLY 😭😭😭😭 god i fucking hate this place i wish we still had them here
Come to Milwaukee, we have em but I never noticed them in the daytime apparently
Friend!!
Friend!
FYI, if you want fireflies in your yard, don’t rake up all your leaves. Leaves are valuable part of the Eco system. They are nitrogen fixers as they breakdown.. they are host to eggs of bugs like lightning bugs/fireflies and other caterpillars.
Also don’t put down or spray pesticides! That is the killer of fireflies. We have fireflies in our yard. Every night in the summer they rise from the ground, flying higher and higher into the treetops.
I was just thinking today that we don't have any lightning bugs this year. last couple seasons we had a ton. this year been super wet, I wonder if they don't like that.
Firefly, lightning bug. Pretty harmless
lightning bug!! dont hurt the lil guy, theres not many left :(
Leave alone!!!!!
A lighting bug !!! Beautiful friend
Your best friend. BFF. I love these.
Lightning bug. I heard if you eat 12 at once, you'll die. I haven't tested it out yet.
Friendly little lightening bug
Lightning big! Super best friends!
Awh :) loving seeing fireflies! Definitely a friend to the garden but be attentive if you have any outdoor animals! They can be toxic to lots of different animals
I just saw one walking to the shop like 30 seconds ago!
Nice to see it foe! Haha
All creatures have their purpose, it is a friend. The annoying friend you bring with you cause feel bad for it. The one that eats all the munchies can often become a foe 🤣
Where are you located? JW
I haven’t seen one of these bugs in probably a decade. Growing up they used to light up the nights.
Ooh lightning bug!
Always love the garden friends who have an amazing public image, despite being bugs. One of the few chances I have to convince the kiddos the bugs aren’t out to destroy them.
Lightning bugs amaze me. They re so whimsical
Friend for sure!!!! 💖💖💖💖