OT:::: lightning bugs/fireflies

[oxysback]

NO ONE has seen lightning bugs recently?!

Nope...not here in NW Oregon.

[mimitabby]

Thank you. My son (who has never seen one) went to Connecticut this week and couldn't find any and has been rather disappointed. I still remember their magic. We'd put one of these poor creatures on our finger and fantasize about how to imprison it there; as a ring! (that glowed in the dark)
thank you for your responses. I was afraid there weren't any left!

[im4smiley]

I have seen them in Western Mass! I also remember catching them as a kid and wanting to transform them into a ring.

[Eden]

I miss them - and crickets and cicadas, but mostly the crickets. For some reason we don't have any in the city. I've been thinking about going to the pet store and buying a bunch to release in my yard, just so I can hear them at night again.....

[mary9761]

I'm a big kid all over again every time I see my first Lightning bug of the season. I've always loved them as well. Some fairly new folklore (not sure where it came from) that I recently was told... Did you know that Lightning bugs are FAERIES in street clothes? If they appeared as Faeries to us, the normals would freak out! Of course children and those of us who have never grown up would be just fine, but thought you might get a kick out of that.

[DebW]

I see fireflies occassionally but rarely in Massachusetts. Where I grew up in Missouri they were abundant. As all the midwesterners here have attested.

[DDH]

I see an ocasional one here in Central TX, but not like I remember seeing them when I was a kid. The night use to light up with them. My dad was military so we lived all over. I think my best memory of them was in Kentucky when we lived there, or TN, can't remember which, or maybe it was MO. Shoot I don't know. I just know we don't have them here like I remembered seeing them as a kid.

[annie]

I miss them - and crickets and cicadas, but mostly the crickets. For some reason we don't have any in the city. I've been thinking about going to the pet store and buying a bunch to release in my yard, just so I can hear them at night again.....

Eden,

Come visit Iowa. We have them all! Lightning bugs ( or fireflies - whichever you please), cicadas (loud enough to amaze you), and crickets, which are so common that we hardly notice them singing. Frogs, too, if you are looking for nature songs outside of the insect community.
Thanks, everyone in this thread, for reminding me to appreciate all these various creatures!

annie

[Aggie_Ama]

I call them Lightning Bugs.

Saw a few when I was in Little Rock a few weeks back. We were just sitting outside eating and along came some Lightning Bugs.

Last week I saw two in my Nanny's backyard in Austin. I used to see them a lot more when I was a kid here in Central Texas. We would always catch them and hope they would be our new pets. Unfortunately, we didn't realize they would die quickly in a mason jar.

[Bikingmomof3]

I miss them - and crickets and cicadas, but mostly the crickets. For some reason we don't have any in the city. I've been thinking about going to the pet store and buying a bunch to release in my yard, just so I can hear them at night again.....

Eden,
I live in cicada country. They never stop and are driving me batty. After 4 years I still am not used to their incessant noise. I will gladly ship them all off to you. I assume we have crickets, but the cicadas drowned out all other sounds.