By Candace Fallon, Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist I’ll cut straight to the chase: reality. Fireflies in the Pacific Northwest are very real, although they may not quite match up to the image you have in your mind. Nineteen species of fireflies have been reported from the Pacific Northwest, which we are defining here to …
By Candace Fallon, Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist Whenever someone asks me why I’m visiting southern Arizona in the summer, and I tell them it’s for firefly surveys, they look at me blankly. Fireflies? Here? No way. In the desert? No. East Coast, sure. Midwest, absolutely. But Arizona? Perhaps Arizona is not the first place …
Henry Brean, Arizona Daily Star | “Each year in late spring, the forest fills with fireflies that flash in unison at Great SmokyMountains National Park. The synchronous show draws so many spectators to western Tennessee that the park service has to hold a lottery to limit the number of vehicles in the area at the …
Seth Borenstein, Associated Press | “On a muggy July evening, Delaware state biologist Jason Davis is doing what kids have done for ages: Trying to catch a firefly. It’s nowhere near as easy as the summer evenings of his own childhood, with only a few in this large wetland between a bay and the Atlantic …
Pien Huang, Regina G. Barber, Rachel Carlson, Berly McCoy, NPR | “Every year for two weeks between mid-May and mid-June, Congaree National Park in South Carolina is home to a fairy-tale-like display of flashing lights.” Keep reading at https://www.npr.org/2024/07/17/1198910402/synchronous-fireflies-lightning-bug-endangered-congaree.
Adriana Perez, Chicago Tribune | “For many who grew up east of the Mississippi River, yellow twinkling lights punctuate magical childhood memories. New England natives call them fireflies, but they’re known as lightning bugs from the Midwest to the South. No matter their regional name, they are a staple of warm summer evenings.” Keep reading …
Aliza Chasan, CBS News | “Firefly fans who’d like to see lightning bugs year-round are out of luck. The insect, which is a type of beetle, is usually seen only between spring and summer, with different species emerging at different times. The first fireflies of the season come out later in the year as you …
Bob Hirshon, Discover Magazine | “For a male firefly, attempting to mate with the wrong species is unproductive as well as embarrassing. That’s why each type of firefly has its own unique flash color and/or pattern.” Keep reading at https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/days-of-dragonflies-fireflies-and-fly-fishing.
Bridget Reed Morawski, Washington Post | “Fireflies and their bright backsides bring a bit of whimsy and beauty to our backyards. While some cultures link their glow with the magic of ghosts and witches, for many Americans they evoke fond memories of lazy, warm summer evenings spent chasing them or just enjoying their bioluminescent show.” Keep …
Johan Chester, Post and Courier | “On a warm May evening in the Francis Beidler Forest, nestled in the Four Hole Swamp, the color of the woods slowly drained away as the sky turned from dark blue to black.” Keep reading at https://www.postandcourier.com/news/special_reports/south-carolina-fireflies-lightning-bugs/article_d92a0f3e-f35c-11ee-a7d2-7fb8f35197a5.html.
This is a project of the Xerces Society, working in collaboration with the IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist Group and New Mexico BioPark Society.
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