Night lights
Following fireflies and finding the world.
Watching fireflies is like watching summer silently sing. When the long daylight and warm air seem to overflow into nighttime, and it’s like the blinking bugs use up all the excess energy.
Fireflies were my first foray into what is broadly called “citizen science.” Back in the summer of 2015, I participated in Firefly Watch.
At the time, Firefly Watch was operated by the Museum of Science in Boston, but later transferred to the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Tufts University. Tufts University is home to Dr. Sara Lewis’s lab. Lewis is a leading lightning bug researcher, author of the book Silent Sparks, and active on Twitter, where she engages in science communication and celebration of these unique bugs.
Participating in Firefly Watch means sitting outside at night, counting flashes, and recording data on a website. A handful of such observations might not mean much, but when combined with contributions from others, it can provide invaluable insight for scientific research and environmental protection.
There are concerns that light pollution may interfere with firefly reproduction, which evolved their unique mating rituals in a world without electricity. Pesticides may also be killing the iconic insects.
Because I’m a writer and not a scientist, I’m not satisfied with my observations if they only include flash counts, temperature, wind, precipitation, clouds, and moonlight. So I also write some words about each observation session.
Mostly these field notes come in the form of haiku, the little three-line poems of Japanese origin, but sometimes in extended prose. It deepens my understanding and adds to the delight.
From fireflies, my interests have expanded to birds, bugs, flowers, and more. That led me to iNaturalist, where the next spring, I began recording observations of all manner of living things. I’ve learned a lot of species, and gained a much deeper understanding of my natural neighbors.
One night that summer, after the kids were in bed, my wife alerted me to a huge firefly flight. I followed her through the yard, and it seemed like the light-up bugs were flying up from her feet. Then we stood surrounded by them, and I didn’t even count the flashes.
Record your own firefly observations at Firefly Watch.
2015 observations
June 2
Temperature: 65
Wind Speed: 1–3 MPH
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, completely visible
Full moon rising over the river and the woods lit up with blue blinking firefly butts.
June 12
Temperature: 65
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
A single firefly blinks
across the dark backyard,
summer sun’s soft search.
June 13
Temperature: 65
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
One single firefly high in the sky, passing from my peripheral vision to one straight-on look and then its next flash fading into the treetops. Blueish-whitish.
June 14
Temperature: 70
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
Drier conditions after a glorious sunny day. Frogs singing. One faint flash.
June 15
Temperature: 65
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
Coyotes crooning at the moon, frogs and crickets the chorus. After striking out last night, it took a long time to see a single firefly tonight. I had given up by the time it appeared, deep in the dark woods up the hill. I kept seeing flashes in my peripheral vision, and was sure I’d seen one blink but then started to doubt myself, wondering if it had been wishful seeing. But then there was that bright white light in the corner of my eye and I stared at the woods there with my eyes starting to dry out, and then there was one unmistakable star flying through the trees.
June 21 (Solstice)
Temperature: 70
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
A small drama of courtship played out for me tonight. First, coming out of the woods, a wandering star, flashing sporadically as he beelined across the yard and out of sight around the corner of the house, exiting stage left. Then fast flashes from the edge of trees and lawn, a lady of the evening perched in a stand of lilies. She blinks in quick bursts, and then pauses, and then again, and repeat. Lost in her silent song, I am startled when a bright flash appears in my peripheral vision: the male is back! Perhaps there will be a connection, both parties seem interested. After a week or two of light lightning bug activity, seeing at most one male and no noticeable females every night, this is a big development. But, like a first date gone wrong, they seemed stymied by biology and culture. I don’t know if the flashes were wrong or someone just wasn’t in the mood, but I watched another several minutes as the male circled ever closer to the clump of irises, and the female kept up her sporadic strobe, but by the time the male was circling right over the female’s last known location, she had gone dark. He probed the night, making ever larger rings around the plants, but she did not reply. Then, to add insult to injury, another brighter bug came blazing in and seemed to scare off our hero. I went inside before I would have to see the female resume her seduction.
June 22
Temperature: 68
Wind Speed: 13–18 MPH
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
Just as I walked out on the deck, a firefly came out of the trees, down the lawn toward me, and then across the grass and out of sight. I got the closest look at one yet, but could still not discern a conforming color. The light looked bluish white, which doesn’t fit into the options provided in this reporting form. I always choose “can’t tell” because there is no “other” option (my eyes aren’t great). Also, for whether or not it was flying in a “J” pattern, I always select “no” because that’s hard to discern and there is no “can’t tell” option. Great reporting interface otherwise!
July 3
Temperature: 70
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
Distant booming of rockets bursting in air. After seeing nothing last night, kind of surprised at sudden appearance of one, then another, and another, and so on. In the woods, in the yard, not a cloud but more than I could quickly count as they cruised around. Lawn was mowed today.
July 6
Temperature: 62
Wind Speed: 8–12 MPH
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
It was 85 degrees with a dew point of 65 degrees yesterday. Sweltering, and hazy. Wildfires in Saskatchewan and even Alaska have sent a smoky plume across our state, triggering air quality alerts and green hills obscured from a mile away.
Then, last night, it broke. In the short hours between midnight and morning, six-and-a-half inches of rain fell on this yard. That is 20 percent of the average annual precipitation! A river not far away spiked from its normal 100 cubic feet per second to 2,900 cfs.
More haze today, cooler, and now this evening a good breeze is blowing and I think 62 degrees is the lowest I’ve recorded since I started Firefly Watch.
The glowbugs showed up. A relative stampede of them. For the first time, I may have seen a new flashing pattern. This one stayed on much longer than the blinks I normally see, and it may have flown in a quasi-J shape, which I never thought I’d even be able to see if it was just blinking at a distant.
Brisk and wild with the wind gusts in the dark.
July 12
Temperature: 81
Wind Speed: 4–7 MPH
Clouds: Partly cloudy
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
storm coming in
flashes in the woods and the sky
humid air breathes deep
July 13
Temperature: 70
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
A fleeting flurry of flashes after dark’s arrival. The woods and yard adorned with lights. Frogs singing, stars above, distant dogs barking. I swear the fireflies emerge from the tallest stand of buckthorn on the property — do they just like resting there?
July 26
Temperature: 76
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: Yes, but it’s partially obscured
I went out earlier than normal, at 9:30 p.m. when there was still a little light in the sky. I’ve been curious about the effects of light on the fireflies, and figured they must prefer full dark to best show off their flashes. I usually go out to look right at full dark, about 10 p.m. lately, and could swear the peak of flashing activity comes as soon as black night arrives. But tonight the yard was still dimly lit, the moon shining through the trees to the south, the woods in deep shadow. It was there that the first fireflies were flashing. Conditions were good today, with a hot day and a hot night, and I was surprised to see moderate activity for this habitat when it wasn’t even pitch black. I’m going to look again now, when the short summer night fully underway.
August 3
Temperature: 67
Wind Speed: No wind
Clouds: Clear
Precipitation: None.
Moonlight: No
It’s been dark for a while now. Mostly warm but not hot and dry days, damn pleasant weather. It’s getting full dark earlier now. I haven’t seen anything in quick walks from car to house at night, and I’ve slacked off a little. But as much because I wanted to make at least one last official observation, I just missed the routine from earlier this summer, there were several nights in a row of observations â�� even though I wasn’t seeing much in June either. These horny flying lightbulbs kept me company on some quiet nights.
But suddenly it’s August and this cool dry day felt deceptively of fall. August could get damn hot yet. But there is the sudden urgency of scheduling adventures into a suddenly dwindling number of available days and weekends. This urgency seems universal. My dad pointed out that the ducks and geese were flapping around their pond, strengthening their wings for their first migration.
So I went back out on the deck tonight, and the stars were bright with little moon visible, and there were deer crashing through the woods, and dogs barking distantly, and an airplane, no frogs though. And no fireflies. I didn’t expect to see any but was still disappointed. I tipped my head back and looked up at the stars, and that’s when I saw a flash in my peripheral vision, high up near the top of a tree to my left. I looked up and of course it was gone, and I hopped up to get a better view of its possible route, and caught a glimpse of one more dim blink. But I’m reporting none observed. That sighting wouldn’t have counted a month ago, and it can’t count now. But I can still see that bright light in the corner of my eye.
Bonus 2018 observations/haiku
June 19
Temperature (F): 64
Precipitation:None
Wind: None
Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy
they rise and they fall
flash peripherally
talk in blinking code
June 21
Temperature (F): 71
Precipitation: None
Wind: None
Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy
a first quarter moon
over hazy solstice dusk
stars sparkle below
August 9
Temperature (F): 62
Precipitation: None
Wind: None
Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy
I thought they were gone
But surprise, a few flashes
Summer not dead yet
Firefly Watch
Firefly Watch combines an annual summer evening ritual with scientific research. Join a network of citizen scientists around the country by observing your own backyard, and help scientists map fireflies.
Anyone in North America can participate in Firefly Watch. All you need to do is spend at least 10 minutes once a week during firefly season observing fireflies in one location (your backyard or in a nearby field). All firefly sightings — or lack thereof — are valuable!
