Cool little bugs!
Ok, well if I am going to write a blog entry, I've got to write one about fireflies! Holy crap, those things are so cool!
We've got them right in our front yard here in DC. We've gone out for evening walks a few times, and you can find them over at the grassy parks, but not in huge swarms, which I was hoping for. Just one or two, blinking here and there. They unquestionably have magic powers: every time one blinks it gives you an uncontrolable urge to gasp, point, smile, and say "there's one!" Even after ten or so on a half-hour walk, it just doesn't get old.
Here's what I know:
They're also called Lightning Bugs, and they're not flies, they're beatles. (Oops! Yeah, I mean beetles!) Anyone who grew up with them certainly knows this, but we just caught one and were suprised. They come out right at dusk, and don't seem to stay out very long at night. They hover around slowly like little helicopters on patrol... which I guess they are. Apparently the males fly around and the females sit on a high leaf. The male is on patrol for females, and blinks. The female is keeping an eye out for males, and when she sees one blink, she blinks back right away. They keep doing this as he flies closer, and hopefully they find each other.
We've got them right in our front yard here in DC. We've gone out for evening walks a few times, and you can find them over at the grassy parks, but not in huge swarms, which I was hoping for. Just one or two, blinking here and there. They unquestionably have magic powers: every time one blinks it gives you an uncontrolable urge to gasp, point, smile, and say "there's one!" Even after ten or so on a half-hour walk, it just doesn't get old.
Here's what I know:
They're also called Lightning Bugs, and they're not flies, they're beatles. (Oops! Yeah, I mean beetles!) Anyone who grew up with them certainly knows this, but we just caught one and were suprised. They come out right at dusk, and don't seem to stay out very long at night. They hover around slowly like little helicopters on patrol... which I guess they are. Apparently the males fly around and the females sit on a high leaf. The male is on patrol for females, and blinks. The female is keeping an eye out for males, and when she sees one blink, she blinks back right away. They keep doing this as he flies closer, and hopefully they find each other.
posted by Dennis at 9:40 AM
2 Comments:
Fireflies are as incredible as stars. I've only seen them a few times, but they took my breath away.
Uh, are they beatles? Or beetles? I'm confused....
But if you want swarms, you may have to wait until warmer weather. Not sure what it's like in DC. I've only got experience with them in New Englad, mostly Connecticut and Vermont. But the only time I can recall seeing swarms is outside the city, usually in a field somewhere. Go camping somewhere near a clearing that's ringed by trees. For some reason I have a sense that I used to see them covering large deciduous trees like oaks, though never in a dense forest... always on the edge of a clearing. Haven't seen them in the past couple weeks that I've been in Portland, and never in the Bay Area. Do they exist on the West Coast?
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