lightning bugs

[Jimmy W]

I have fireflies out here. I find it hard to believe they are out in March. I think of them as a sign of summer.

[SKIP KILPATRICK]

Does seem really early.

[Mrleft88]

My Loquat is ripening..... Usually it's just gone off flower at this time of year. This year it was flowering (last year) in November.
Strange days indeed. (Most peculiar Mamma)

[WX]

They used to be a September thing here, but we now get them in early to mid-August.

[WI-Tom]

A couple of years ago, lilacs bloomed in October in parts of Wisconsin.

Tom

[JayInOz]

Had fire flies on the farm I bought near Glenn Innes years ago. I just happened to glance outside one night and saw them flying low above the long grass- took me a minute to realise what I was looking at. A couple of minutes later I'm tripping over and stumbling across the rocky ground trying to swat them with my hat to get a better look, and wondering what my big tough biker mates would have to say if they could see me now JayInOz

[MushCreek]

Lightning bugs are interesting critters. They usually start in late May here. There are several different species, which last a couple of weeks each, so the ones you see in August aren't the same ones you see in June. In the the Smoky Mountains, there are synchronous lightning bugs, which all flash at the same time. There is so much demand to see them that The Great Smoky Mountains NP has a lottery to get a ticket to get in during the season. There are 19 species of them in the park, including blue ones!

As for the weather, this is the third year in a row that warm weather caused our blueberries to flower too early, and subsequently get killed off by a freeze. I told my wife that if it happens again next year, I'm taking an axe to the bushes, as they obviously don't do well here (any more).

[Garret]

We usually get them in June, lasting through much of July & few stragglers left in August.

When I was a teenager, cousins from California I'd never met came to stay for a few days. One was a girl a year or 2 older than me. She'd never seen fireflies before & was fascinated. We'd gone over to a country club nearby & were sitting in the field talking & watching the fireflies when a half dozen flashlights appeared. Seems someone had reported trespassers & when we told the people we were watching the fireflies, they cracked up. "So that's what you call it?" "Just watching fireflies - that's a good one!", etc. Thing is, we really were just watching the fireflies...

[ron ll]

I have never seen a firefly or lightning bug.

[Tom Montgomery]

.
They are actually a beetle. They emerge here between the third week of May and the third week of June. When I was a child we would capture them and place them inside a Mason jar. It is fun to see a dozen or more lighting up inside a jar. We would then release them.