Best state for fireflies
May 27th, 2005 | 11:16 AM
#42
Joined: May 2003
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Jersey: I remember doing the same thing in South Jersey with the jar with the holes punched on top, execpt I always let mine go after a few minutes. I also remember trying to catch frogs at night that would emerge from underneath our front steps, but that's another story...
It also never occurred to me that lightning bugs aren't nation-wide.
It also never occurred to me that lightning bugs aren't nation-wide.
May 27th, 2005 | 12:19 PM
#43
Joined: Nov 2003
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They are here in North Carolina. I noticed them about four weeks ago. It never occurred to me that our tourist board should be making something of the fact that a kid can still catch a fire fly (or lighting bug) on a summer night in this beautiful state. Y'all come on down.
May 27th, 2005 | 12:28 PM
#45
Joined: Feb 2003
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I also never realized they weren't nationwide - you really do learn something everyday.
They do seem to favor certain plants, but I'm not sure which. Growing up, there were always more at my grandparents house than my house. We get a fair amount now, but my brother's house, with less yard and more flowerbeds, has TONS.
They do seem to favor certain plants, but I'm not sure which. Growing up, there were always more at my grandparents house than my house. We get a fair amount now, but my brother's house, with less yard and more flowerbeds, has TONS.
May 27th, 2005 | 01:44 PM
#46
Joined: Jan 2005
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Eighteen years ago we were having our lat Fourth of July cookout at our home in Montgomery County Pennsylvania. At dusk it looked like a mass hatching of lightning bugs. Thousands of them flying just a few inches off the ground. Since then we have been in northeast Massachusetts where I have seen very very few.
May 28th, 2005 | 09:47 AM
#47
Joined: Jan 2005
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In the 1940s and 50s, fireflies lit up my childhood in Northern New York State. Great memories, too, of a backyard full of them in Bloomington, Indiana, circa 1985. More recently, I've wondered whether they might flourish in Burgundy. Tampering, right?
May 28th, 2005 | 04:30 PM
#48
Joined: Jan 2003
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Ah, sweet memories! As a kid in mid-Michigan, one of my favorite pasttimes was catching lightning bugs in jars on hot summer nights. In fact, I just remembered that a couple of years ago, while camping at Harrisville State Park on Lake Huron, I watched a lightning bug just outside my tent for about 15 minutes. Because my DD and DS were raised in Southern California, it made me sad to think that they had never had the experience of catching lightning bugs in a jar. Thanks, camcraw, for the memories!
May 28th, 2005 | 06:10 PM
#49
Joined: Apr 2004
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ahhhh.... fireflies... great topic! i saw them growing up in Houston, TX and i guess now i realize that i'm lucky to have had them after we moved to Wisconsin. lots of good memories chasin' those fireflies....
none here in LA, though
lynne
none here in LA, though
lynne
May 29th, 2005 | 08:53 AM
#50
Joined: May 2005
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As an (almost) lifetime California, in Northern California...not too far from Clear Lake....I have never seen a fire fly in these parts. Too bad. We did go to Gettysburg a couple years back during the summer and I saw my first fire fly. It was amazing. We're going to DC around the 4th, and we're hoping to see more. Sorry. No fire flys out this way though.....
May 30th, 2005 | 11:41 AM
#51
Joined: Jan 2003
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Lightning bugs are common in central/southeastern PA. If you did a summer trip in the Amish country or the Lehigh Valley and stayed in a rural area, you'd be *almost* guaranteed to see them.
I missed them when we moved to Oregon. It was easy giving up the big thunderstorms, but it was sad to say goodbye to lightning bugs!
And I've never seen them here in Europe, either.
I missed them when we moved to Oregon. It was easy giving up the big thunderstorms, but it was sad to say goodbye to lightning bugs!
And I've never seen them here in Europe, either.
May 30th, 2005 | 03:18 PM
#54
Joined: May 2005
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I spent my early childhood in Wheeling,
WVa, then lived on the banks of the Ohio River , often visiting my Aunts farm in Morgantown WVa ;also visits to relatives in the West Pittsburgh area. We always enjoyed the "lightning bugs" during those summer evenings. We would catch them in a jar and punch holes in the top, then later set them free. If you have the chance to have your children experience this, do it..it was one of the wonders of childhood.
WVa, then lived on the banks of the Ohio River , often visiting my Aunts farm in Morgantown WVa ;also visits to relatives in the West Pittsburgh area. We always enjoyed the "lightning bugs" during those summer evenings. We would catch them in a jar and punch holes in the top, then later set them free. If you have the chance to have your children experience this, do it..it was one of the wonders of childhood.
Jun 3rd, 2005 | 07:02 PM
#58
Joined: Jan 2003
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Oh what a great thread! I love those lightning bugs! I can recall seeing them with cousins right outside Chicago when I was younger. When I went to college in Gainesville, FL, we found some along a lake behind one of the dorms. Beyond that, haven't seen many in the Tampa area but I hear my future state Vermont has plenty. 
Jun 4th, 2005 | 06:09 AM
#60
Joined: Jan 2003
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cam:
my mom's cousin's son when he came to PA to visit from San Diego was always fascinated by our lightening bugs. It is kind of neat at night to see little specks of light at night around the grass. You will see lightening bugs from like June through August in my area of SW PA.
my mom's cousin's son when he came to PA to visit from San Diego was always fascinated by our lightening bugs. It is kind of neat at night to see little specks of light at night around the grass. You will see lightening bugs from like June through August in my area of SW PA.
