Tom Anderson, at the Warner Nature Center, wrote me back. Here's what he had to say:

Hi Liza,

My mosquito control district contact has not contacted me so I thought I should send you some other thoughts. I can get back to you if I hear anything different.

1. Adult fireflies typically don't come out until early to mid-July, so we shouldn't be seeing many right now anyway.
2. Mosquito control might be having a selective effect on fireflies, as they live in moist places and are predators (hence, more likely to get larger quantities of pesticides in them due to bioaccumulation). Also, if mosquito control has included draining and drying out moist places, the fireflies' food source will become more scarce (see the next point).
3. Most likely, it has to do with the weather. If a summer is dry at the a critical firefly period it can impact their nourishment. Fireflies eat primarily slugs. Slugs need to be in moist places or they dry out. When the weather gets dry, slugs either die or hunker down in inaccesible moist spots, limiting the ability of the fireflies to find them.

cheers,
Tom

I also contacted Ralph Holzenthal, the director of the University of Minnesota's Entomology Department insect museum. Here's what he said:

"I saw fireflies last summer and the summer before last both in by backyard in Roseville and in Roseville Central Park on the 4th of July. I think it's really a matter of being there at the right time in combination with ambient light. But I would not want to conclude that the populations are declining as I have no data. If they are, any of the factors listed by Liza could be a cause.

I think there is an opinion going around the country that fireflies are declining, but to my knowledge it is all anecdotal. I think we have to be especially wary of 'There were a lot more when I was a kid, than now!' There was probably a lot more of everything when we were kids and we had a completely different perspective on the world.

But perhaps I am wrong and they are declining. I have not looked into the literature on this, but it should be easy to find out if there is any real assessment of the populations. Of course, there are a lot of different species of fireflies."

I'm outside of your survey area. But we had plenty of fireflies (or lightning bugs, as we call them) here last year. And I saw the first one this year outside my apartment about a week or so ago.

If they depend on rain, then I'm expecting a bumper crop this summer!

-- Gene (East Lansing, Michigan)

Fireflies glow due to bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. The light generated is the result of a chemical reaction in which chemical energy is converted to light.

You can buy bioluminescent single-celled algae known as dinoflagellates from a company called Sunny Side Sea Farms. I used to have a bunch of bags of these things, and they were really cool. Here's how their website describes them (their dinoflagellates are Pyrocystis fusiformis and they call them "Lights from the Sea"):

These tiny plants live in the ocean. They are unicellular algae, which look like delicate, beautiful, golden eyes, and produce oxygen and sugars like all plants do. In the dark, Lights From The Sea produce glowing blue light. Pyrocystis sets its bioluminescence by a biological clock (just like our sleep patterns). At sunset the cells produce the chemicals that cause a luciferin-luciferase reaction. You can see the general shape of the plant through a magnifying glass. You do not need to feed them since they use the light in your room to photosynthesize producing their own oxygen and food. Lights From The Sea can last several weeks to months. You must treat them as you would a delicate plant or a bouquet of flowers. They need light but prefer to remain between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

I also happened by here on accident. My sons just caught a big jar full of lightning bugs and we were wondering what they eat. My 6 year old wants to know how they can eat slugs and things like that when they are bigger than the bugs are. Any good answers for us? We seem to have plenty of fireflies here in SW Missouri...

Last summer we noticed a few nights with fireflies in our backyard, just north of Houston Texas. About 5 years ago we stopped using pesticides and opted for natural sources to combat unwanted bugs. But we would love to provide a more favorable habitat for our firefly friends.

Does anyone know if we created some compost-like pile of wet leaves and rotting wood to attract slugs, would this increase our chances of seeing more fireflies?

I guess I am really asking is, What is the most favored food source for fireflies and how should we go about creating it in our back yard?

Thank
NostalgiaHunter

Well, I live in Saint Paul right next to a big field bordered with some small woods (right across the street from the Saint Paul Cathedral). I haven't seen even a single firefly.

I grew up in Nashville, TN and can remember seeing hundreds in my front yard as the sunset. I can't say I have ever see numbers like that up here in Minnesota, but my fond memories of childhood might be distorting my scientific observations.

And here's a cool project based on John Schimmel's memories of firefly experiences as a kid:

"Fireflies are networked nightlights for a local environment, the jars can be placed in different bedrooms or other spots around a home so people can communicate with one another through simply tapping on the jars. For example, if you tap the jar in your bedroom you will pulse the colored fireflies associated with that jar. The neighboring jars in your home will receive and pulse your taps, record them and then play them back. The neighboring jars can respond with their own tapping and broadcast themselves to the nightlights in the home.
While a person is tapping the jar, they are in a broadcast mode where they get approximately 4 seconds of tap time and the other jars are in listening mode, again, for approximately 4 seconds *. After the 4 seconds is up there all the jars play back the recorded taps they have received. It's a firefly jam session.

Fireflies work using radio frequency (RF) which broadcasts only when a jar is being tapped. The RF works nice in a home because it does not need to rely on an existing network infrastructure, a jar simply sends as far as it can for each tap, usually 400 feet, and any jar in that radius will most likely receive the message.

The nightlights work well even without their friends, as a standalone, the jar has enough character to create a presence that does not need to react or broadcast to others and can simple be a piece of a room."

"Firefly" nightlights: (Photo courtesy John Schimmel)

Check out the step-by-step instructions for making this great set of networked nightlights.

The firefly's flame

Is something for which science has no name.

I can think of nothing eerier

Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a person's posterior.

--Ogden Nash

I don't know much about fireflies, Liza, but here are a couple things maybe you could check out:

1] You could temporarily catch some fireflies and keep them in an environment with or without mosquitoes and see if the mosquitoes are eaten!

2] Find several places where fireflies live and see if they are also places frequented by mosquitoes. This would clue you in to a possible relationship between the two insects.

3] Adopt a firefly and name it Josephine. Keep Josephine with a misquito and see if the mosquito is devoured.

Good luck - Jimmy

In 2001, 2002 and 2003 there were lots of fireflies near us - we live near the river outside of Philadelphia. then last year there seemed to be less and this year hardly any so far. In fact, so few that I googled to see if I could find out the reason for such a lack of abundance b/c in 2001 there were so many we were bowled over. Must be a combination of factors, including weather glitches. I was thinking that the birds may be more abundant and eating them all.

Hi
I´m from a far country.

I´m really liking to read your news and reports about fireflies.
Keep on the good work and enjoy it, they are truly amazing!

Regards,
L.

This gave me exactly what i need

Greetings-
I just want to share that there IS hope of a growing, glowing population again.
We have a family cabin in Wisc. that's not far from the state line into Minnesota. The cabin is next to a marsh on the edge of a lake. It's in a very rural area, so there's virtually no light polution. We stay around the same time every year, so what I witnessed this year made me very happy.
Our first few years out of the last 12 we saw fireflys abound, then they all but vanished. This past year, there was a population explosion! On a starry night, you could hardly tell where the horizon was, there were sparkling lights from ground to sky. This was the largest amount of firefly's I had ever seen. I spent my childhood Summers living on a lake in Minnesota (rather, IN the lake from sun up to sun down), so I have had my share of fireflys in my life. I had spent the last few years lamenting over the loss of these amazing insects, so what I saw a few weeks ago made my heart sing with delight. All of the people in our group went out onto the lake the first night and silently watched for at least half an hour, they were so abundent and amazing.
I hope many of you get to witness this kind of delight this Summer.
trix

Firefly sitings. Reasonable number of fireflies in the woods near my townhouse in Eagan July 2001, 2002. Have since moved to house in Apple Valley. I live across from a park and have a fairly "wild" backyard with tall grass but alas not much in the way of low-hanging tree branches - have seen small number of fireflies July 2003, 2004, 2005. So far this year (2006) - just one firefly in my backyard or along the side of my porch. But, I am also often not able to sit outside and observe during the critical hours of the night.

I did see rather more fireflies at my parent's house in Rochester. They live in a very woodsy neighborhood with an abundance of low-hanging tree branches. I distinctly remember a large number of fireflies on July 4th, 2003 - the last holiday I was in Rochester. We were lighting sparklers in the driveway and the fireflies kept flying up to the sparklers, perhaps trying to mate with them.

However, none of the Minnesota sitings compare with the fireflies I remember as a child on vacation in Massachusetts and upstate New York (this would have been the 1970s). I remember quite a light display in a meadow environment (with water present) on these occasions. Even that was probably not at the level my mom remembers (during her Massachusetts childhood in the 1950s) when she could regularly fill a mason jar with the critters simply by running around the yard scooping up fireflies.

Where can I purchase fireflies or firefly larva? My children have never seen them before. If anyone knows where or how I can purchase them that would be wonderful Thanks, Dan

cool, I've never seen them

Just last night my mom and I were sitting outside and we saw a firefly, that brought up the question were do they go. We realized we only see them in the summer or just 2 months, were we live we get them every year but not all through the years. Does anyone know where they go after the few months we get them?

Thank you,
The Daughter

I live in Northeast Indiana (Ft wayne). I can remember in the 60's chasing fireflies in the evening as child. There were always multitudes of magical green luminescent twinkling lights every summer evening throughout the neighborhood. They were everywhere.

Once, about 15 years ago, I was camping at a state park and we watched as it seemed like a million fire flies were blinking on and off in unison. What a sight!

This evening (8-20-06), a warm summer night, I thought that I'd go outside and have a drink on the patio. I sat there for a while and slowly realized that weren't any fireflies at all. Thinking back, I don't recall any last year either. Not to mention, there have been far fewer butterflies too. Very depressing and disturbing.

Here in Winston- Salem, North Carolina I see fire flies what seems like all sumer and me and my friends catch them all the time. It seems like they swarm our back-yard because you can easily catch 10 after about five minutes. I think that fireflies are amazing!

My wife and I are planning a cross-country trip with our travel trailer in the near future and are much interested in seeing fireflies in "action". We will be passing through several midwestern states are were wondering where and what time of the season would they be most plentiful to observe. Thank You kindly for any information.

yea thats all nice what you guys are saying. but you never answer THE IMPORTANT QUESTION:
where Can We Buy/Purchase Fireflies??

Bees are also disappearing
Scientists are very worried
It could be due to the proliferation of microwave radiaiton from the 1000's of cell phone towers now covering the whole country.
See the web site for research articles

I don't bee-leve it!!!

When I moved from N.C./Virginia to Washington State and later California, I asked why no fireflies.

Answer: they reproduce in the South, and need the humid environment of the Southeast during the summer and fall; they can't reproduce in desert conditions in the Southwest.

Once, in North Carolina, as a kid, I got to see a firefly larva, a "glowworm" (and my dad, who grew up in Georgia and saw them there and places deeper South all the time when he was a kid, sang us "Glow Little Glow-Worm" to help me remember it). It was a pale yellow-green glowing white caterpillar, basically, that turned up underneath something like a board in the yard.

Possibly their range has moved northward since the 1940s, as things have warmed up.

But they don't have any breeding populations in places where they can't reproduce in warm humid summertime conditions. No West Coast fireflies.

My neighbor and I spotted a few fireflies late last night in Coon Rapids, at the edge of a wooded area. I don't recall ever seeing them this early in the year, and wonder if the very warm weather we've had encouraged them to come out.

I like very much to read your reports.
Keep on the reporting I´m doing the same here in my country : Portugal.
I wish you all have an excellent firefly year!!

I have seen fireflies at my cabin. They are the best at night when you are having a camp fire. Josh

A co-worker told me this week that she had heard/read (don't remember) something recently that fireflys were going extinct because we are putting way to much light in our yards at night. Is this true? I just had my first child and would hate that by the time she is old enough to catch fireflys they don't exist anymore.

I have lived in a suburb of Houston called The Woodlands for the past nine years. I had never seen a firefly here until last week. Since then, I've seen two or three more. I grew up not far from here and there were lots of fireflies every year when I was a child. We stopped seeing them in any number in my hometown at least 20 years ago. Until last year, The Woodlands sprayed for mosquitos but they decided to stop. It made me wonder if that was why the fireflies returned.

I just saw possibly hundreds of fireflies. It started around 9:20 and lasted for about 20 minutes. The temperature is 74 degrees 5 miles northeast of Green Bay,Wisconsin near the bay shore.
I did not see any last year,so this is already better than last year for viewing them.

Anybody know where a good place to find fireflies in the Twin Cities area might be? Perhaps a lake nearby...I am new to the area and would love to sit outside and watch for some.

I live in coastal NH and just saw one lonely firefly- which is what made me google '"what happened to all the fireflies" I also remember tons of fireflies when I was young and now I never see them. I live on a farm so I am out every night after dark year round to make sure everything is shut in. I have wondered what has happened to them for a long time.

We live in southeastern Pa- Amish country. When we first moved here 6 years ago we had as many lightning bugs as I was used to growing up in a nearby city. They population seemed to decline drastically and suddenly about 2 years ago. We also don't have as many June bugs or crickets as we did then. The possiblity of this being connected to the bees dissappearing is very interesting. Hopefully we can figure out what's up soon.

Oh sorry, I live in Albertville, Minnesota!

We had lots of fireflies about a month ago in Richmond, MI. We were outside tonight lighting sparklers and hoping to catch a few fireflies - but didn't see any. We've been going through quite a dry spell lately. We were wondering if they have a short hatch period or are they around all summer.

I live in WI where I have noted a recent lack of FF but on a recent trip to New York City I was in some urban gardens and in Central Park and was just wowed by the number of fireflies that were around (hence my visit to this site) . I hate to say it but city lights did not seem to be inhibiting the presence of FF in NYC. I see only a few in my WI back yard.

I've seen 2 fireflies so far this year in La Crosse WI. I'm wondering if perhaps those japanese beetles aren't eating the all the firefly larvae?

I've live in New Mexico for over 40 years and I don't ever recall many - if any - Lightingbugs here. I did grow up in northern New Jersey and as a kid, what great shows we had in our yard every summer.

I've been trying to find Lightningbugs for sale for a one time experience for my Grandchildren, I guess they are just not available, It would be nice to establish a population somewhere here - they really are one of nature's wonders.

Sorry I'm not more familiar with the ethics of such a thing.

I live in northern New Jersey and have seen a decline in fire flies in the last few years, that's why I went looking for an answer and found this website. We have a few in our back yard this summer, but nothing like in past years. We do use some chemicals on our lawn, but have very natural woods behind our house. Northern Jersey has been wet this summer, so there should be enough slugs and other food sources for the larvae. In past years I have seen hundreds on a summer evening, this year, only a few. I hope it is just a natural cycle and not something more serious. I've enjoyed reading the comments from all over the country.

Vanishing fireflies make an appearance in The Straight Dope.

Hi
Someone told that fireflies aren´t native to the west side of the Rockies, but that´s not really true, since California also has some fireflies, but much less than in the east.

Summer 2007 was the first time we definitely saw a decline in the amount of lightning bugs fluttering about in central Indiana. Will there ever be a definitive answer as to why?

I was actually looking for questions on why I had fireflies around my area when I came across this. I've been living in this area for 4 years now and have never seen fireflies up until now. My family and I have been oohing and awing over them for the last week or so. I'm not quite sure what kind we have, but I wouldn't be able to tell even if I had pictures of all of the many different species. I was just wondering if it meant anything. We haven't had a lot of mosquitoes this year, at least not yet, but we seem to have an abundance of fireflies.

I am from Califonia and I had never seen a firelies. Now been here for a couple of years I got to see a lot in WI. I hope that every one gets to see these things they are amazing.

I haven't see nearly as many fireflys as i used to when i was younger. I live in Maine and this past weekend was camping.. out in the woods not at a campground and saw maybe 10 fireflys, this seems very weird to me.

saw one tonight in my house! (Hawley MN) I was watching late night TV and then saw a beetle on my throw.....thought it was just another creepy crawler, so I got a paper towel to squish it and throw it away! When I opened up the paper towel it was blinking so I stuck it in my son's 'bug habitat' we just bought him (that comes with a 'bug vaccuum' of all things! lol)
I haven't seen any around for so long that I thought I would keep it until the morning so that he could see one.....I don't know when he will get another chance.

Well, I finally saw some last weekend (Martinsburg, WV). I saw them around 8-9pm. There weren't many, but I walked around the neighborhood and into a few of the local cemetaries and probably saw around 40-50 total. Unfortunately, there weren't enough of them to make video capture feasible. Hoping I can find someplace within 50 miles or so where there'll be enough to make a small video that I can put up on MySpace and/or YouTube.

I was in South Sioux City, Nebraska, early last week, and I saw fireflies by the hundreds at dusk. Here in Minnesota, though, no such luck...

This year, similar to 12 years ago, has been one for the fireflies. They are absolutely everywhere and number in the thousands every night. This is in East Central Nebraska. I have some photos if anyone is interested. However, the reason I ran across this site is because along with the abundance of fireflies has been a marked decrease in mosquitos, so I, too, was wondering if lightning bugs ate mosquitos. Perhaps my daughter and I can try the experiment suggested to find out! Thanks for all the posts and information!

do fireflys eat miscitos and other flying innsects? and you did great!!!! your (info) is amazeing

I live in Racine Wisconsin. Fireflies are EVERYWHERE this year. I don't remember seeing them at all in years past, but this year........WOW.
We were just out in the country and there had to be hundreds of them above our friends Soybean field.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the severe rain we had in June and the flooding?
Incredible though. All the kids is the neighborhood are collecting fireflies for their bug houses. So much fun to watch!!

I have fireflies here in East-Central Wisconsin, but I haven't seen nor heard any crickets. They use to drive everyone crazy singing all night, or not being able to find them in the house. Where on earth did they all go.

I live in North Florida and I do not see fireflys anymore, not in some years now. I have land in a remote area with a pond, no chemicals have been near thee pond or anywhere near it. No fireflys

One late May night about 15 years ago, I sat on my front porch in B,ham Al. Across the street, the fireflies lit up a Japanese cherry tree like Christmas lights. I haven,t seen any fireflies since. Here in SC when we were children they were everywhere. Now. I see none. I sure miss them.

I saw fireflies while camping by a cornfield in Nebraska last week. Exciting. I used to see them a lot during the 20 years I lived in a woods between Delano and Rockford. I miss them.

I have missed seeing lots of fireflies in the last few years. I lived in FL for 15 yrs, Fort Myers, never saw any at all. May have been too hot. I grew up in GA and as a kid they seemed to light up the night esp at my grandmother's farm.

I live in Athens, GA for the last 10 years and haven't seen near as many but of course lots of light pollution. Also have been experiencing drought conditions and hotter weather here in recent years.

We go camping the the North Georgia mountains as well as parts of N. and S. Carolina. Occasionally, we see some fireflies but not very many and they don't stay out as late. We usually wait a good bit after dark watching for them before we use lanterns or light a fire. Of course, this is usually in June and July.

I live in southcentral Pennsylvania on 9 acres of wooded land with several wetland ponds and two streams. This is my fifth summer at this location and during the past two years, have noticed a significant decline in the number of fireflies on my property. I have everything needed for them to reproduce and have not altered anything since moving to this location. In fact, we have made significant improvements in order to protect the natural habitat. When we first moved here, the trees would light up at night -- it looked like twinkle lights on the trees. While we still do have fireflies, there aren't nearly as abundant in prior years. We have no artificial lights, otheran than our porch lights and we have plenty of dead and rotting wood. Other beetles seem to survive and thrive.

This past weekend, we were having a family "bonfire" and while sitting in our field in the western Catskills, we saw small specks of light all around the field. We took a flashlight and saw this larval creature, which we guessed was a firefly larva... and now with internet research confirmed. We have the adult fireflies usually in the July timeframe - but this is the first time I saw the larva - very exciting, especially since we had a small group of kids present who were able to see them as well. Its these types of experiences that lay the groundwork for adults who appreciate nature.......

are there any firefly breeders?

My wife & I have been wondering about the lack of fireflies(or"lightning bugs")in Florida(St. Pete). i used to see them a lot when I was a kid,but I haven't seen any for years. My kids don't even know what we're talking about. It make me sad to think that a little of nature's wonder may be gone

We've just moved to a wooded area on Wheelock Parkway (near Como Park) in Saint Paul. Last night, as I turned the lights out, I noted a good number of fireflies already blinking away! It was an incredible treat, even though it _does_ seem a little early in the season. Plan an evening walk along the parkway - we live on the end closest to Linder's Greenhouse - and you're sure to spot 'em.

I noticed about 4 years ago that I hadnt seen lightning bugs all summer ...didnt mention it to anyone else till last summer when I still hasnt seen a single one . I work at a childrens home and mentioned it in front of one of our 7 year olds who thought i was making the whole "glowing bug" thing up ! How sad ! I didnt realise till then how rare lightning bugs are now, even in the ideal humid/hot rural area of central Alabama. I saw one for the first time in YEARS last week and i was so excited about it and it got me wondering so I searched the web and found this website. Needless to say- there must be a major decline in lightning bugs for so many others to have noticed. Is there anything we can do to help the firefly population grow ?? I miss them !

June 13, 2009, northern Chippewa County, Wisconsin.
Lots of fireflies tonight from dusk to 22:30.
Noticed at least five different flash patterns. Caught a few. Some were about 3/4 inch and one was just over 1/4 inch.
Took digital closeups top and bottom and will dig out my beetle field guide.
The area is mostly a dry oak woods with plenty of pines, birch, ironwood and aspen mixed in. Lots of downed and rotting tree stumps. Low damp areas abound. There is a bog lake close by.
Fireflies were all in the larger clearings.

I was wanting to spray for mosquitos in my back yard but didn't want to kill the fireflies.....so I Googled it and found this. I live in Upstate South Carolina and our backyard has hundreds of fireflies lighting up the evening hours every night (ever since late May/early June). It's really beautiful. I wish I could capture it on a film. The mosquitos are really not bad, just an occasional bite, so I've decided to not spray for mosquitos and keep the fireflies.

I recently went camping at Afton State Park and saw TONS of fireflies.. The entire prairie looked like it had strings of Christmas lights hovering above.

9:15 pm, Friday, July 31, and my backyard in Michigan is swarming with at least 2 dozen lightning bugs. We recently had some record-setting rainfall, and there have definitely been more slugs in my garden this year, so that probably accounts for it.

My wife and I saw fireflies up near Lutsen last week. Not a lot but they were the first I've seen in a while.

Live outside Charleston, South Carolina, I too had wondered why the fireflies disappeared. I believe it has more to do with the use of pesticides than anything else. I grew up in Michigan, in the suburbs outside of Detroit (plenty of light pollution & urban encroachment) and fireflies were abundant in our backyards in the 60's and 70's.

When I relocated to South Carolina, there used to be lots of fireflies in Beaufort and Charleston and then several years ago they went away or so I thought. The last couple years I have noticed lots of fireflies late in the evenings (after 10) driving through the swamps on 165 between Summerville and Ravanel and this past year I have even seen them in my back yard in Summerville

I was very curious about the same thing, i guess this has been an issue for a while.. I live in Texas also and haven't seen any... i usually look forward to them in the summer, it seems to make summer that much more special... anywho... I was wondering and got a boat load full of answers and realized I wasn't the only one as well, great website.

Blessings,

I grew up around Lake St Clair and St. Clair river in Michigan. I remember every June the fireflies. Not so anymore. They seemed to have disappeared. Have lived in different states. Close friends agreed. They have disappeared. Anyone I ask same response. Many from many different areas remembered them but haven't seen them in years. Rev 11:18 God will bring to ruin those ruining the Earth.......