Celebrating nature's living fireworks: What to know about fireflies

“Fireflies create a magic that transcends time and space. Their resplendent displays change ordinary landscapes into places ethereal and otherworldly.” From "Silent Sparks: The Wonderous World of Fireflies" by Sara Lewis.

Folks in our neck of the woods enjoy the 4th of July with their own personal celebration by launching fireworks into the sky above our neighborhood. With “rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air” they commemorate Independence Day from the comfort of their own homes and yard.

Most every night for the past month my wife and I have enjoyed our own summer fireworks display with the amazing silent flashes of our native fireflies. Our nightly revelry didn’t cost us a penny, annoy the neighbors or scare their pets. It only required turning off the lights of the house and venturing outside to witness the truly amazing spectacle right outside our door.

What are fireflies?

What exactly are fireflies? Some people call them lightning bugs, but they are neither fly nor bug but actually a type of beetle – Coleoptera Lampyridae. There are almost 2000 species of fireflies around the globe, on every continent except Antarctica, with the greatest number residing in the tropics. In North America there are 120 firefly species with the most variety in Georgia and Florida.

Most fireflies in North America’s northern latitudes live underground as larva for one to three years and further south maybe just several months. In the larva stage they are voracious carnivores devouring soft bodies of insects, earthworms and snails. When they are ready to transform into flying insects, they enter the pupal stage for two weeks before they emerge from their natal soil as adult flying insects. It is typically the male that flies and they vastly outnumber the sedentary females. Fireflies of both sexes speak the language of love by their flashing light, with flying males broadcasting their amorous intentions with distinct flashing patterns and the flightless females on the ground, or having climbed up a stalk of grass, flashing back in response.

The best information on fireflies can be found in a book my sister gave me about five years ago, Silent Sparks: The Wonderous World of Fireflies by Sara Lewis. Lewis traveled the world to document fireflies and her book provides a guided tour into not only the fascinating lives of fireflies, but also the reverence and honor cultures from around the world hold for these diminutive luminescent insects.

How to attract fireflies to your property

Lewis also provides helpful information on how to attract fireflies to your property. The most important and logical suggestion is to protect the larva by avoiding treating your lawn with pesticides, especially “broad spectrum” pesticides. Also, if you want fireflies, don’t over-mow your lawn since frequent mowing can disturb adult fireflies. She also suggests leaving the edges or parts of your lawn with taller grass since the adults prefer to live in the longer grasses.

Over the past few years, we have followed her advice and dedicated a side yard as our firefly nursery and only mow it during the fall after the fireflies have gone through their life cycle. These late spring and early summer weeks we have enjoyed an abundance of fireflies in our yard and back pasture. Clearly our nursery has had a positive impact on the increase in firefly activity, and we celebrate their display each dry and warm evening.

We find great joy in witnessing these luminous bugs and never tire of their nightly displays. Thanks to the information provided by Sara Lewis in Silent Sparks our knowledge of these insects is now much deeper and richer. Tonight, when dusk descends into night, we’ll venture outside to witness again their nightly display. If I see the lonely female blinking in the tall grass, I’ll attempt to carefully coax a frantic blinking male to her leafy abode. The title of firefly cupid is one I would wear with pride.

I recall one night when I was perhaps eight years old my brother and I caught many fireflies in our backyard and put them in a glass jar. We stared in wonder into our homemade gold and green illuminated lantern, that is until my sister opened the jar and waving it into the air released them into the night.

I believe that during the innocence of childhood, discovering the miracle of nature leaves an indelible impression. Perhaps this is why as I grow older, I have become fascinated by fireflies. Perchance the tug of childhood memories has rekindled something lost or forgotten, now reawakened years later by the flash of fireflies in the dark.

We live in a beautiful place called The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor. Summer is here and the spectacle of nature awaits adults and children of all ages. I hope you’ll join me and together let us care for it, enjoy it, and pass it on.

Bill Reid is the Chief Ranger of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor. He can be reached at [email protected] or 860-774-3300.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: What to know about fireflies and how to attract them