I ask because I haven’t seen one this summer! I remember when I was a child, and on warm summer nights the backyard would be full of them! We could easily catch a jarfull of them, which we could use as a play lantern. Likw I say, I haven’t seen any this year…do they have any predators, or have humans destroyed their habitats?:rolleyes:
I see 'em all the time. Maybe somebody has been spraying insecticide in your area, or something?
I heard on NPR a couple of years ago that they’re appearing later and later each year, and there are fewer of them.
As of then, nobody knew why.
Ka-Billions of them here.
Tennessee is rife with them every evening.
And, I still think they’re as cool as I did when I was 7. 
I have never seen a firefly in my life.
Man, I hope not. He’s a cool guy, and when I went down to Virginia for Geobabe and UncleBill’s engagement party he and his wife put me up for the night, their cat Charlotte cuddled with me in bed, they gave me a really nice pancake breakfast the next morning…
I would really miss RTFirefly if he was extinct. 
Might be victims of pesticides and pollution. Fireflies have few natural predators (they’re poisonous to eat) but they prey on snails and slugs, which are sensitive to pollution and pesticide. Have you noticed a reduction in number of snails and slugs in your area?
Lot’s of fireflies in my Tennessee backyard.
StG
Tons and tons of fireflies around here in upstate New York.
Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any here yet either. Not sure when they usually appear, but they’re thick at night at some time during the summer. Gotta investigate!
Aha! They generally appear in June in these parts, but get delayed by cooler weather. So far this June has been cooler than normal, for the first time in about a decade.
We saw a bunch of them in the Withalahootchie Forest about a month ago.
I’ve seen two so far this year.
There actually seem to be more here in my neighborhood in Eastern Mass. this year than I remember seeing in the last 5-6 years. We have had a rather wet spring/early summer, but I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. Even this year there are not as many as I remember seeing in upstate New York.
Fireflies are rare West of the Great Plains.
I saw fireflies for the first time during my trip to Chicago a few summers ago. I was staying at an RV park in the Des Moine area, and when I went out for a stroll at dusk I saw hundreds of green sparks floating in the air. It took me a moment to realize they were fireflies – At first I thought I was dizzy and seeing stars.
They were amazing. I don’t think I could ever get used to something like that. If I remember one thing about that trip, it will be the fireflies.
There’s clouds of them here. Bluesman and I went walking on post the other night, and one clump of trees looked as though someone had strung thousands of chrismas lights, there were so many of them.
There’s a bunch in Ky. I was just out catching some earlier.
I let them go of course, just like to see them light up.
People, please.
The scientific term is lightning bug.
Actually, I think the scientific name is this ka-giberish of latin:
Photuris pyralis
Hmm…apparantly, the Sigma Chemical Corporation pays $0.01 for each firefly you sel them…with bonuses involved for higher level amounts…cha-ching!