Today I was singing along to Owl City in my car (I may have been at a stoplight with the windows down). Tonight I saw fireflies for the first time in 2011. Coincidence? I think not.
The night sky isn't glittering yet, but a few randy males were flying around looking for ladies.
I will add entomological facts and childhood stories involving bug guts to this post when I get to a computer.
---6 days later---
Entomological footnote: Fireflies are awesome. They are somewhat mysterious to even entomologists because they are hard to study. They don't like to be reared in a laboratory, much to the dismay of both scientists and curators of bug houses in museums. I think it was the Smithsonian that tried to get a colony going so that visitors could walk through the bug house and experience the firefly magic—like a butterfly house. But they couldn't get them to last. Too bad because that would be really special.
Speaking of special, one of the experiences that ALWAYS leaves me feeling overwhelmingly grateful for my life is riding a horse through a field of tall grass that is glittering with hundreds of fireflies. The bugs get caught in the horse's mane and tail. Really amazing. This and the fact that it is hot out and the horse flies showed up this week has made me go nocturnal for my riding lately. It's all good.
Back to the the bugs.
There are many different kinds of fireflies (which are not flies, they are beetles... fact to know and love (?): if the insect name is all one word e.g. firefly, dragonfly, etc. then it is not truly that kind of insect (in this case, not a fly). If the name is two words e.g. horse fly, deer fly, fruit fly, etc., then it is truly in that order of insects (in this case, flies).) (That was a lot of parentheses.)
Fireflies are in the beetle family lampyridae which I only mention because I think it is a great family name. Probably because it is one of the few scientific names I can remember. The grubs of the beetles are fondly known as glowworms. It's always fun to rip open a rotting log and find glowing little insects. (Yes, I do often rip open rotting logs when I come across them...)
One of the characteristics of the different species is the flash pattern. The females are down on the ground flashing away and the males fly around looking for the right light. Then he flies down and finds her. This is simplifying things a bit, but you get the idea.
In some cases, after the female satisfies one of her urges, she switches her flash pattern to attract a male of another species. But when he comes down to do the dirty she eats him instead. Psych!
I don't think they have fireflies out west. In New England we have ones that glitter—flashing seemingly randomly all over. Down South they have a species that lives along riverbeds that all light up and the EXACT same time. This is on my bucket list: to canoe at night down one of these rivers at night and see them all light up at once and then shut off. I think it would be eerie, but very cool. (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sROKYelaWbo&feature=related)
I'm not including pictures in my post because my camera doesn't capture the magic of them. But you can google it and see what they look like. Or come visit me and see for yourself.
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