Pointless post: Where'd the lightning bugs go?

DaveHo

When I was a kid, 40ish years ago, I had a lightning bug catcher. Could fill it in no time. They'd practically smack you in the face while playing kick the can at dusk. Now, here in SE PA, basically nada. What gives?

F1nut

Plenty around here.

xschop

Luciferase wielding bastids are everywhere here now.

bcwsrt

https://youtu.be/o16S4ABvzsc

Jazzhead

When I was a kid in the 60's, growing up on the edge of a city in NC, we had clouds of them in the summers. As the city grew around us their numbers dwindled to almost nothing. I've since learned the larvae need undisturbed vegetation, leaf litter, forest mulch, etc. to survive. There's nothing like seeing fireflies/lightning bugs on a summer night.

msg

Few to none here right now, but they tend to increase a bit in number when the wildflowers and sunflowers get going.

I remember those summer nights out playing, too. There would be loads of them, yeah. Might have been later in the summer as well, though?

This city is no longer sleepy like it was in the 80s. Farms on the edge sold and developed, built, and are continuing to build, shopping and housing on all the green space.

Keiko

I've had 'em on a stick.

sucks2beme

Got them here. I also see a swarm of lady bugs in late fall.

mhardy6647

Loss of habitat has led to them dwindling in many places.
We haven't had many this year -- but I suspect (hope) it's due to weather (cool and wet late spring/early summer). Last year, they were plentiful.

We might still see a peak this week or next.

muncybob

Yep,same here. Saw the first ones of the year(at least they were the 1st ones I noticed) over the weekend. July here is full of them, then in August the nights get noisy with the peepers. I would love summer but for the humidity.

tophatjohnny

Keiko wrote: »

I've had 'em on a stick.

Chocolate covered ?

gudnoyez

They appeared early not as many as usual round here haven't seen any in about a week. Western Iowa Eastern Illinois area. Used to be late June -mid July lots of them not this year.

Jstas

I've been actively planting and landscaping to be conducive to fireflies/lightning bugs and I noticed last night that I had considerably more flashes across the back yard than last year.

Made me quite happy.

machone

Never see them in the SC Low Country

F1nut

They were dive bombing me while I was watching the fireworks tonight.

treitz3

In upstate SC?

There has been a dramatic decrease in them....unless I am preemptively speaking. Our yard used to light up but so far, this year?

Nada. None. Like, not even one.

Tom

Dabutcher

I never see them here in the Twin Cities.
They were all around at night when I lived on the Wisconsin/Illinois border. Peace. D

treitz3

Come to think of it.....hummingbirds aren't as prevalent as they have been in yesteryear.

Ant hills, on the other hand are thriving.

Tom

sucks2beme

Wife has a hummingbird feeder. Yard is chock full of them.
I see them all day flying around.

mhardy6647

sucks2beme wrote: »

Wife has a hummingbird feeder. Yard is chock full of them.
I see them all day flying around.

If you feed them, they will come.
(especially out West, but even in the northeast, where we only have one species of hummer)



1 cup of sugar plus water (I boil it first) to four cups final volume. (1:3 is better at the beginning and end of the season, when those little rascals are extra-hungry).

Jstas

https://www.firefly.org/

The biggest changes I made to get more fireflies were:
- Stopped mowing every week
- Mow at a taller setting on the mower deck
- Let the grass grow more between every mowing
- Start mowing later in the season (gives eggs time to hatch)
- Thinned out the herd of trees (fireflies like moist soil and too many trees strip water out of soil)
- Got rid of non-native plants
- Improved soil health (brings what lightning bugs like to eat)
- Got rid of excessive outdoor lighting and put lights on motion detectors so they aren't on all the time.

Also, stopped using weed killers and learned something about "weeds" and how they can help manage soil conditions and create an environment where desirable plants want to grow.

Biggest change was planting clover everywhere. Gets me two major things. Pollinators everywhere in the sea of little white tufts. They are never a bother either.

The other thing is clover helps retain moisture in the soil by creating shade. Two things fireflies like. It's also a nitrogen fixer so everything that the grass takes out of the soil, the clover puts back in. So together they thrive and muscle out weeds and create a thick, carpet like lawn. Fireflies love it because they can hide deep in the turf during the day and eat stuff they like that lives in that area of the turf.

So, you want fireflies, do the following:
- Mow less frequently and mulch your clippings
- Cool it with the lawn chemicals and learn about more natural ways to manage your lawn
- Stop it with stuff like mosquito fogging and lawn pesticides, it doesn't really work anyway and just harms everything
- Kill the lights, fireflies won't hang out where they can't see each other

Jstas

Oh, also, hummingbirds. Feeders are cool and all if you want to see them up close on the regular but, they are pollinators too and they would rather be going for a natural source that has more nutrients in it than sugar water.

We don't have feeders at the house but I see hummingbirds all the time. They are always around the lake with many natural wildflowers that the hummingbirds zip in and out of.

So if you want more hummingbirds, look in to what you local native flowering plants are and put them in your yard. 'Cause feeders will attract them but if you want them to stay you need habitat.

You can also plant stuff in a garden to manage as well. But things like "butterfly bushes" are invasive and not what hummingbirds go after. They go after stuff like Bee Balm and Red Sage (Salvia Sage), Honeysuckle, Cardinal Flower and if you're in Eastern North America, especially the Mid-Atlantic and warmer areas of the Northeast, Trumpet Vine is also known as Hummingbird Vine for a reason.

I have Trumpet Vine growing in the tree line at the back of the yard where there's a small swamp. That is, by far, the area where we have the most hummingbirds running around and it's also the area where I hear the most tree frog calls.

But stuff like Bee Balm, Red Sage and Cardinal Flower are super easy to grow and care for. You basically plant them and that's it. Get good with your weedwhacker, though, 'cause they will spread.

BinKY188_5

Plenty of lightning bugs and hummingbirds here.