Despite the name and status as a pest (they are literally European scarabs), I feel nostalgic whenever I see one. Farmers ruthlessly fought them, so there hasn’t been a swarming event here in at least 20 years.
Lightning bugs swarm??? That’s simultaneously awesome and terrifying, or maybe terrifyingly awesome. Now I want to see a lightning bug swarm even more than an intense meteor storm.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a “Lightning Bug Lottery” every year, a certain number of passes are randomly given out to applicants to see the park at night during peak breeding season for fireflies. Supposedly they will all sync up their lights and converge in a huge group on one tree.
I’ve seen a smaller event once in my hometown. Just a whole tree was sparkling for a few minutes. I think the most amazing thing about it is the light doesn’t really show up well on a camera, so you kinda have to just put your phone down and enjoy it with your eyes. The only place you can keep that moment is in your mind.
Lightning bugs, aka Fireflies, are harmless. Their little butts just emit flashes of light from internal chemical reaction, like a short lived glow stick. If you encounter a field with a bunch of them, it’s real pretty.
No fireflies where I live, but that doesn’t mean my childhood was free of a beautiful insect swarm.
My area had a bad outbreak of cockchafers I got to enjoy.
And an equally beautiful name for that fine insect
I have never heard of that insect.
Despite the name and status as a pest (they are literally European scarabs), I feel nostalgic whenever I see one. Farmers ruthlessly fought them, so there hasn’t been a swarming event here in at least 20 years.
Lightning bugs swarm??? That’s simultaneously awesome and terrifying, or maybe terrifyingly awesome. Now I want to see a lightning bug swarm even more than an intense meteor storm.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park has a “Lightning Bug Lottery” every year, a certain number of passes are randomly given out to applicants to see the park at night during peak breeding season for fireflies. Supposedly they will all sync up their lights and converge in a huge group on one tree.
I’ve seen a smaller event once in my hometown. Just a whole tree was sparkling for a few minutes. I think the most amazing thing about it is the light doesn’t really show up well on a camera, so you kinda have to just put your phone down and enjoy it with your eyes. The only place you can keep that moment is in your mind.
Lightning bugs, aka Fireflies, are harmless. Their little butts just emit flashes of light from internal chemical reaction, like a short lived glow stick. If you encounter a field with a bunch of them, it’s real pretty.