First firefly
Just a quick note. I saw my first firefly last Friday evening 06/08/07 which seems abnormally early for NJ.
posted by Ki at
6:21 PM
Monday, June 11, 2007
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11 Comments:
We've had them here in Ithaca for at least 2 weeks -- maybe more.
Wow, that even further north than we are. Is this early or am I not observant?
I spotted my first lightning bug last night in Iowa, zone 4.
Hi Iowas gardening woman,
Aren't they a July-August kind of bug? Seems like it used to be humid and sultry before they appeared.
We saw our first last night, less than a week ahead of last year's first sighting.
Hi Xris,
I should keep a garden log book so I know when things happen. Like the emergence of those little green caterpillars that eat our mountain azalea leaves. Or when Japanese beetles first appear. Unfortunately I'm not the record keeping type and suffer for it when the caterpillars denude the azaleas before I notice. I guess I can periodically leave notes on the blog as I did this time.
Good to know that the fireflies are on time.
Here in northern Virginia, the lightning bugs put on their big show in early July, so I was very surprised to see them at the end of May in central Virginia. I'll have to start associating them with Memorial Day instead of the Fourth of July. I never gave much thought to firefly taxonomy, but I suppose they could be a different species.
Ours were two weeks early here in northwest Ohio. I keep track and here, they usually first appear right around the first day of summer.
It's probably just another quirky thing about our quirky weather this year.
Hi Entangled,
Wow, end of May. You do live in a much warmer climate than we do. Funny I don't think of Virginia as being that far from NJ. I'll have to see if there are different types of fireflies. Well I checked. "There are 23 genera and about 200 species of Lampyridae in North America." Could we be seeing the early emerging type?
http://eny3005.ifas.ufl.edu/
lab1/Coleoptera/Lampyrid.htm
Hi Kylee,
It's actually your post and another blog plus my sighting that piqued my curiosity. Unfortunately I don't keep records but it always seemed like a July kind of event. You're probably right about the strange weather we've encountered this year making the fireflies come out early. We're freezing now with night temps in the 50's and days barely rising above 70. Funny wearing shorts and sweatshirts.
Up here in Northern NJ, I've already seen a few but I usually start seeing them in mid June. But you're right that July is when you really notice them. We sit out in the yard at dusk and watch them all take off.
Hi Anthony,
When I walk the dog at night I usually see at least ten planes and helicopters flying with their strobe lights flashing. We must be part of the NE corridor. I was amazed to note that the fireflies' white light is not much different than the ones of the planes.
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