Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

Do you see them, especially in rural areas where darkness is really dark? Maybe it's just a Canadian bug?

We didn't see them in Scarborough/Toronto but here in the country, NE of TO, from the last week of May right throo June they appear like clockwork.

I look out our back window every night before bed & watch them. It's just as if the stars fell from the sky & are floating all over the place in the fields, flashing their bright lights It's too bad the males don't live longer than this but every Spring there's a new batch

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

I grew up in the city and remember all the kids in the neighborhood would try to catch them on a summers night.

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

No fireflies in our neck of the woods.

Some know their larvae by the name glowworms.

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

I've only ever seen glowworms once and that was in Switzerland.

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

We have glowworms here
I haven't been there for years but there used to be a bank on the way to the reservoir at British Camp in the Malverns which was lit up at night with them

I know there are a number on the local nature reserve, they are listed each year

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

Fireflies and Lightning bugs are not a native species this side of the 'pond' darlin'

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

Used to love watching them when I was growing up in the US. They seemed magical. I'd forgotten about them, so thanks for the reminder, AC!

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Down this way AC.. we have millions of them. As a kid we would catch them and put them in jars. I always released mine when it was time to go in for the night. Some would squash them on the sidewalk to smear the glowing material on the cement. Meanies.

Re: Fireflies/Lightening Bugs

Ugh, argh! That's terrible. Yes there's tons here & I could watch them for ages but I have to get up early so no.
They actually flash a green colour, too bad the males die each season, such a short life. But like I said they always come back the next May for another 4-5 weeks, here anyway.

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They say that much like the cricket chirp, you can tell how hot it is by how fast they flash. I don't believe that.. I have been told that each individual male has his own pattern of flashing and attracts a mate that way. Guess some patterns are sexier than others.