AKA Lightning Bugs, these precious creatures are dwindling in numbers. Pesticide use, along with light pollution – i.e. bright lights alongside of your house, in your yard, and in your neighborhood, as well as more urban area lighting in general are contributing factors in the decline in numbers that we are seeing.
I used to see hundreds of them in my backyard every summer starting in June. Seeing them is a staple of summer. Seeing them is a marker that summer is here. Seeing less of them each year is concerning.
I went on a quest this morning to see if there was an organization or any way that I can contribute to slowing the progression of possible extinction of these beetles – the projection is 20 years and they will be no more. I can’t imagine a world without lightning bugs.
I found an organization that collects scientific data on fireflies, and the best part is that we can all contribute. It’s science and it’s fun!
The organization is called Firefly Atlas, and, well, that’s pretty much what it is.
The Firefly Atlas is a collaborative effort to better understand and conserve the diversity of fireflies in North America. Launched in 2022, the project aims to advance our collective understanding of firefly species’ distributions, phenology, and habitat associations, as well as to identify threats to their populations.
Although the Atlas tracks all species described from the US and Canada, we are currently prioritizing efforts for a subset of 13 threatened and data deficient species found in three focal regions of the US: the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Southwest. These priority regions were chosen based upon having a high number of threatened species (Fig 1) and/or a high number of data deficient species (Fig 2).
Identify the fireflies in your photos, with the potential for verification by experts;
Download a species checklist for your state or province of interest;
Learn more about fireflies, their ecology, and ongoing conservation efforts;
Help researchers better understand the distribution of fireflies; and
Connect with other researchers, land managers, and community scientists.
Whether you already keep records of firefly observations, work as a conservation professional, or are simply curious to learn more about the fireflies in your area, please consider joining our efforts!
Please follow this link and if you feel inspired, let the little scientist in you participate. If you are not able to participate, please consider donating to this organization that is collectively trying to save our beloved, luminescent-bootied summer creatures.
Hundreds of fireflies, you would not believe your eyes
The flowers are blossoming, and the critters are crittering.
First coreopsis bloomClematis in full bloomTiger Lillies are in bloomThe hydrangea are in bloom Pretty colorsHundreds of baby lightning bugs/fireflies live in my grass – I’m avoiding stepping in the grass so I don’t squash them! Bunny doing bunny things
I’ve been capturing a lot of flowers lately. We’re still waiting on the Calla lilies, the daisies, the clematis and the hydrangea. Everything else is blooming or almost done blooming. Special bonus photos at the bottom.
DIANTHUS!!! (Yes, I’m yelling – look at this thing!)White peony with dashes of pink. Yes, they smell divine. Unfortunately, the rains have decimated the peonies. This is my lavender seedling. Unfortunately, the rains have caused this little guy to struggle. Lavender does not like a lot of rain, and that’s all the skies are giving.BLUE HASTA is taking up so much space I had to clip some of the leaves in the back of the plant so that the Calla lilies could survive. They are not quite blooming.Wild strawberry growing amongst the clover.Coral-colored rose. Yes, it smells divine.Susie watching birds.Ma’am. I can’t resist her little hands folded like that. Yesterday we almost had a crisis, however. Ma’am was over-eager for the peanuts and tried to enter the house. Crisis averted.Don’t ask me how, but I captured this male cardinal in mid-flight. He loves peanuts. He will yell at me through the window if he sees me in the house. He doesn’t go to bed until very late, and will yell at me until about 8:30pm. I yell back that he should be in bed by now, he’s a bird.
When I see a daddy longlegs, I’ve got to high five at least one leg.Tiny spider web covered with dew, inside of my lavender seedlings.This is Katherine I. She was my friend. She was fierce. She was an Orb Weaver. She made her home on my porch a few years ago. I watched her repair her web every morning. It was fascinating. She lived well into December of that year and left two egg sacs, which I moved to a safer place. I miss her. Katherine doing Katherine things.RIP, Katherine I. She lived until mid December of that year. I promised her I would take care of her babies and move them to a safer place for the winter. And when she died, I scooped her up and put her in this tissue, and then buried her in front of her clematis vine home.Katherine’s web. This is a typical feature of an orb weaver’s web. They are very large webs, taking up the spanse between the two porch poles. A spiderweb captured on a chilly morning.Me looking for Katherine while taking photos of my wig – we were friends and all, but I didn’t want an orb weaver in my hair. Respect where respect is due.
To cheer myself up, I’m going to do a photo dump of my plant children. There are a couple of surprises this spring.
My mom’s cherry tree has cherries! No, they are not edible – at least not to humans, but the birds will enjoy them.The first light pink rose of the season – pardon her appearance, she is drenched by the rains that won’t stop. But she still smells just as sweet.I believe these are the Sweet William variety of Dianthus. I transplanted this from the back to the front flower bed and it’s very grand. When it’s in full bloom, it will be something spectacular. I noticed these blooms today for the first time.This is the panned out version of the above plant. I like to call this DIANTHUS (along the same line as CHRIS the cactus). This Dianthus means business! This is a potted dianthus that never dies over winter, no matter what. I think it’s been in this pot for about eight years.These are one bunch of Calla lilies coming up. These are bright pink and the squirrels put them here. Luckily the squirrels lined them up exactly with the post so they’re not off center. I planted a dark purple Calla lily last year, and about five plants are shooting up right now.This is a blue HASTA. Again, the caps are necessary because this is a ginormous plant. The dark purple Calla lilies I just mentioned? They’re behind this guy. I had to trim off five or six leaves so they would get some sun. Stay tuned for more on this drama.This is a PEONY, with an honorable mention Iris in the background. I’m not a big fan of Iris, but I found out two days ago. They actually smell really nice. I had no idea that even had a scent. This is a coreopsis – he’ll be pale yellow when he blooms.This is my baby lavender. I grew him from seed starting in the fall, and he’s been hanging out in the house until today. When I removed the pot that he was in, I smelled the lavender scent. I hope he survives. This is a Dogwood tree stump. This tree died in 2021 and was cut down, as you can see. Today, I discovered this sapling growing from the old stump. I put a cage around it and I’ll see what happens. The flowers of the original tree were white, so if this survives it will be the same.While I was still mucking about in the dirt, I found this Japanese maple growing. It’s not in a bad spot to have a tree, so I put a cage around it. We’ll see what happens.Last, but certainly not least, here is ERJ, with his new leaves. Isn’t he handsome?
“It's Amy,” I said. 