With the fall equinox just behind us, the adult firefly season has come to an end across most of the US and Canada. However, that doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to fireflies just yet! Fall is an ideal time to look for an entirely different stage of the firefly life cycle—the larvae. This …
Are you in training to become a Master Naturalist, or looking for a new project to undertake as part of your annual certification requirements? Many Master Naturalist programs require 30-40 hours of volunteer work each year. We might be biased, but we think participating in the Firefly Atlas and related conservation efforts is an excellent …
Candace Fallon, Senior Endangered Species Conservation BiologistIf you submit data to the Firefly Atlas, you might be wondering what becomes of that information. You likely know that we are crowdsourcing data to better understand firefly distributions, seasonality, habitat associations, and more. But what does that mean in practice? And who has access to this information?Firefly …
By Candace Fallon, Senior Endangered Species Conservation BiologistI’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 include Oregon, …
By Candace Fallon, Senior Endangered Species Conservation BiologistWhenever 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 that pops …
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 height …
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. LINK: Https://www.npr.org/2024/07/17/1198910402/synchronous-fireflies-lightning-bug-endangered-congareeNotice: Below is a list of 1 important links included on this page.1. Https://www.npr.org/2024/07/17/1198910402/synchronous-fireflies-lightning-bug-endangered-congareePlease note that …
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 at …
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 move …
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