OT:::: lightning bugs/fireflies

[biking4health]

We have them in northern Illinois. We call them lightening bugs.

Carol

[velogirl]

We don't have them in California (at least I've never seen them). I had totally forgotten about them until I went back to upstate New
York (where I grew up) to do some bike touring last summer.

Someone told me last year that they're not as common now as they were when I was a kid.

[corrine]

I grew up in California and they aren't there, but I moved to WV almost 7 years ago and now live in Maryland and see them all the time in the summer, but lacking the rain lately, they aren't as numerous as they have been. I love sitting outside and watching them. Seeing them in large numbers the first time at a wetland area, I began to believe the twinkling Christmas lights were designed by someone missing the twinkle of the fireflies!

[emily_in_nc]

We still have them in the central North Carolina countryside. However, they're all gone this late in the summer, as far as I know. They are mostly a June/July thing here. There aren't as many as when I was growing up, but they are still around. I love them because they remind me of my childhood. We call them lightning bugs here, not fireflies.

We also have tons of tree frogs and who knows what else making noise outside at night in the summer. We live in a forest and put in a small pond last year, which multiplied the noisemakers by a lot! There are nights when the tree frogs are mating by the pond after dark that I have to sleep with earplugs on (even though the windows are closed) since the pond is right below our master bedroom window!

Emily

[songlady]

They are definitely around here in western NY! On summer nights around my block you can catch them in your hands, they are that plentiful!

[salsabike]

We don't get them in the Northwest. I had them in both upstate NY and Michigan. I think they need warm humid summer nights. Fireflies and thunderstorms are the two things I miss the most.

[tulip]

We have them in Washington, DC! We also have wild turkeys, deer, foxes, bald eagles, beavers, all kinds of birds, and coyotes.

[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.

[Geonz]

We got 'em in theMidwest.

Gnats, too.

[quint41]

In Connecticut, we call 'em Fireflies. When I hear the Spring Peepers (others call them Peep Toads), I know it's Spring, and I get really psyched. When I see the Fireflies, I know summer's here! My favorite season!

[CyclChyk]

Here in Gerogia we call them lightening bugs and they are EVERYWHERE! (They also hurt when the slam into your arms at high speeds). I used to catch them in jars as a kid in Pennslyania....

We also have crickets and gnats and waterbugs (aka flying roaches) and spiders and poisonous snakes, and deer, and foxes and bobcats, oh and did I mention spiders? And silverfish, and giant centipedes, and cow ants, and fire ants, and black ants, june bugs, and unidentifiable bugs and did I mention the flying roaches are FRICKIN' HUGE????? and pretty much any other bug you can think of EXCEPT cidadas...... and I do miss their sound.......... oh and we don't have black flies... ..DON'T miss those.....

[mimitabby]

You guys are all making me (a transplanted New Joisey girl) feel much better.
Even if I can't see them, I know that there are some still out there; they aren't extinct yet.

[RoadRaven]

I don't see lightening bugs
...or June bugs
... and wtf? cow ants???


Wrong country I guess...