Southeast DU'ers...When do the Fireflies ("Lightening Bugs) show up in Your Area?

[KoKo]

Just saw my first two here in North Carolina tonight...but, none so far in South Carolina where we just got back from visiting folks in the SC Low Country area around Charleston.

It seemed early for NC to get them before SC...

Wondering because I can't remember exactly when the "Lightening Bugs" used to show up but think it was June, July...way back when ...when I was a kid.

So...have any shown up in your area in the past few days? And, if so...if you could just list your state...since I know many of us are wary of giving specific locations because of all the privacy worries many of us have.

Thanks.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. I live in the midwest.

But there seem to be fewer every year.

http://www.firefly.org/why-are-fireflies-disappearing.html

[KoKo]

5. Thanks all for replies.. The two I saw were higher up off ground...not low like usual

and, I did think it was a bit early for them. Since we had such a cold winter here in NC I was surprised and thought they would show up earlier in SC around Charleston where we were and to find two out here tonight was interesting for NC.

[KoKo]

8. Thanks...that article is an interesting read...and I've found fewer and fewer

since I moved back South. They used to flood our yard when I grew up. I see fewer and fewer every year. Maybe the lights in what used to be rural areas taken over by development and our pesticide using "green lawn culture" had a part to play also.

I've missed them in the abundance they once were. But, so early this year in NC..and I don't live near a marsh...which is interesting. But...there were only two.

[LadyHawkAZ]

32. Well, that was a depressing read

I took it to Facebook and tagged it to my sister, who lives in a dark zone in Kentucky. She said the population where she is has been slowly disappearing for a decade and she rarely sees them now. There's not much light pollution where she is, so it must be habitat encroachment and pollution.

Some of my fondest memories of my vacations back East as a child were of the fireflies coming out at dusk. I didn't realize they were disappearing like this.

[BlueToTheBone]

2. I remember them in deep summer as well

but I'll watch for them at our garden party this weekend.

[Lindsay]

3. I am in SW NC

and have been seeing them for a week. This seems early to me as well, but these seem to be different than the ones we usually get a bit later in the season. They're very high up in tall trees, rather than nearer the ground and the shrubs, and are out when it's fully dark, rather than at dusk as I'm used to seeing them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. I read that different types of the bugs congregate at different heights.

We see them from our deck, some are 20 feet from the ground, some are only 3 feet from the ground.
Usualy visible in June, depends on how hot the weather is.
Some years a lot, some years not so many.
We have shrubs and bushes and all sorts of stuff growning at the perimeter of the property, they seem to like that type of environment.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. I'm thinking June or July......

It's always REAL hot when I first notice them. I haven't seen any yet.

[KoKo]

6. Yes...I remember it being more Deep Summer when it's hot/humid, than now..

here in NC after our long cold Winter/Spring.

Thought I might be mis-remembering...but, I grew up in SC Lowcountry and we used to collect them in bottles and keep them overnight as company for us little kids in the night. We would release them next day..but it was much fun. Probably not for them...but, we were kids.

[Buzz Clik]

7. After dark. They're around all the time, you just can't see them.

[RobertEarl]

9. After dark? Why you are genius!

Genius, I tell you, genius!

But wait... I've seen them in the day time. So that just blows your 'can't see them' right out of here. That must make you feel pretty dumb, eh?

Here in the Smokies they came out pretty good in April. But then it froze one night and they've struggled. The other night, in an unmowed field, they were everywhere up to the mow line. Something tells me them and lawnmowers are not a good combination.

[TexasProgresive]

10. We don't have fireflies anymore.

They disappeared before the honey bees.

[kentauros]

11. Yeah.

I miss them.

I wonder if they can be re-introduced? Are they beneficial?

[KoKo]

14. Do you remember the year or so when you noticed they were gone?

or were you just joking about this. If you remember the time frame it might mean something as to what was going on where you lived. Were there new housing developments near you going up..changing habitat...or other things. Maybe spraying for tree infestation which many of us have had to deal with...or "OTHER."

[TexasProgresive]

21. We moved back here in 1975

The fireflies were as numerous as when I was a child. About 25 years ago they became rare and about 20 years ago nearly non-existent. 5 years ago I saw one flickering on and off in the tree line a couple 100 yards away, none since.

Nothing much has changed here. There is little spraying as the land is mostly pasture land. The biggest change to the environment has been fire ants and perhaps that is a factor. People blame them for the disappearance of quail and maybe so. But we have lots of dove which I believe are also ground nesting.

The "great" agricultural "university" Texas A&M is in this county but if there has been any research into the disappearances of many insects in the area, I am unaware. Too busy spending money from companies like Monsanto, I suppose.

[doc03]

26. I am in Ohio, we have very few anymore in this area n/t

[Mojorabbit]

27. yep

I have not seen them since I was a kid here in Orlando and that was a very long time ago.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. Raleigh NC - about a week ago. Love them - lots tonight!

[KoKo]

15. Sadly...somone bought the lot behind our house...and

today they came...and they've cut down all the trees and there are "stump grinders" there now to prepare the site for a new home. The two I saw will be long gone given the noise and destruction of the wooded lot that used to be behind our house.

Glad there's an abundance where you are, though. Hopefully the two who were here will fly far and land in a space more hospitable. It was nice while it lasted, though.

[Fla_Democrat]

16. Couple of weeks ago, maybe 3.

Big Bend area.

[tosh]

17. In deep southwest Georgia,

they come out in March, still in great numbers. My "place" there is deeply wooded. In Florida where I live near the Gulf Coast, I rarely see them. I think the mosquito sprayers have done them in here.

[CatWoman]

18. here in Atlanta, there are fewer and fewer with each summer

but I was home in Portsmouth, VA last summer and they were all over the place.

[RebelOne]

19. You are right.

I live just northwest of Atlanta and I haven't seen any for a long time.

[KoKo]

28. Atlanta, GA....makes me wonder if it's similar to the Bee Problem.

I didn't see any in Charleston, SC which used to be swarming with them when I was down this past week...but found two in my yard in NC. Yet even Atlanta is having problems when my aunt we used to visit lived there and we visited she had so many in her yard it was just like in SC.

Wonder if there could be a connection to our bees...or maybe many of the insects we used to know as kids are just declining because of the pesticide use..and it's having an effect that's just now showing up.

[Fumesucker]

20. Eastern GA, we usually get a lot but it hasn't been warm enough at dusk yet

We had kind of a cool spring and chilly nights up until just a couple of days ago.

They show up at early to mid twilight and usually are gone by full dark.

[KoKo]

24. As I remember they do like Mid-Summer warmth and humidity..and it's

been cool here too (unusually so) and was surprised to see the two I saw before the tree cutters showed up..

[hobbit709]

22. Lightening bugs I don't know. Lightning bugs are already here.

[1-Old-Man]

23. Northern end WV, we won't see them for another month or so

The last two years they have been pentiful.

[KoKo]

25. It's good news to see that some are thriving in places that I wouldn't think would

be seeing them in abundance. (I think of them as Deep South) While places I would figure would have many...have so few.

It's interesting. Perhaps they are adapting to places they feel more comfortable...and use of pesticides might vary according to region or where we live that some see more and some are seeing less.

[dog_lovin_dem]

29. I saw the first here

in east central Illinois last night. Just checked and sure enough, they're here! It's usually a couple weeks into June before they arrive.

What has been missing here for at least the past 15 years is the whippoorwill.

[FSogol]

30. Mid July thru early September in No. VA. We have a couple of trees that light up like Christmas

trees thanks to the little guys. It is très romantique.

Kids don't catch them in jars anymore because they are not allowed to go outside at night or are too busy texting.

PS. It's "lightning bugs" not lightening.

[JimDandy]

31. I haven't seen any in decades. n/t