Have you ever seen fireflies?

30 comments

1. Oh yes. Grew up with thousands of them in my backyard. There’s not so many where I live now, but when I go back to my parents’ house, they’re still there. Less than before, but still there.

2. Never seen them.

3. In the northeast, they’re fairly common outside of cities.

   Like all insects, much less common than 20 years ago and insanely less common than 50 years ago. Think twice before using pesticides, people.

4. Yeah, see them all the time.

5. They have been thick here in southeast Indiana this year

6. I see them in Upstate New York (Dutchess County) all the time in the warmer months. I was on the eastern shores of Lake Michgan last weekend (between South Haven and Saugatuck, MI) and saw them. Growing up in rural Missouri they were a summer staple.

7. I see them often. Mainly at dusk rather than later in the night.

8. I grew up and live in a fairly rural part of Virginia. Fireflies have always been around in the summertime evenings, but it definitely seems like there’s less of them around than say, 15 or 20 years ago

9. Yeah, not often in the city, but i’ve seen them plenty in the country. The tree across from my folks fills with them, and the whole things pulses with light.

10. Yeah all the time

11. In Indiana, Ohio, and here in New England they are pretty common.

    I was just mentioning the other day that there have been tons here in New England this summer. I don’t know what specific factors increased their amount but there have been way more than previous years.

12. I see them all summer long.

13. I haven’t. I don’t believe they’re on the west coast

14. Chicago suburbs. Yes, they’re more common the further out you get from the city, or in forest reserves. Seen more this year than I’ve seen in awhile

15. Yes, but they aren’t quite as numerous now as when I was a child. I used to catch them without harming them and let the lightning bugs go.

16. I’ve seen them a couple of times in Central Park

17. Yeah almost every night in the summer, they’re all over my backyard (my house is back against a pretty wooded area). You won’t see them a lot at least in my state in the more urban and denser suburban areas but definitely will getting out a bit more.

18. When I was growing up in Indiana, I saw them all the time.

19. They’re pretty common in the two states I’ve lived in in the Midwest. Our backyard is pretty lit up with fireflies for a big chunk of the summer.

20. Of course.

21. Yeah, extremely normal in Michigan. The midwest is thick with them.

22. Yes, they fly around at dusk every summer. Lived in a house with a big field out back for a lot of my childhood so there were tons. Now I live in the city but my block has small yards and a bit of woods nearby so a good amount of fireflies

23. They are all over here in Tennessee.

24. In Maryland we used to catch them as kids. We have tons of them. They are also often called lightning bugs here.

25. Yes I have seen them, but we didnt have them around when I was growing up. I believe they were killed off by the mosquito trucks

26. Yes, I love them. I wish we had more. Some years I see them nightly in my yard, other years I hardly see any all season.

27. Never seen them in the northwest.

28. Very common in my back yard in the summer but they are sporadic. Even more so when I was a kid and the woods would flicker with thousands of them.

29. Yes, but FAR less so than when I was a child. There were so many more in the sky in the 70s and 80s.

30. Central NC. Lousy with them. In my head, the first firefly I see marks the beginning of summer. “Real” summer.