Summer Nights, Flecks of Light

Summer nights are vanishing, even as I type. Before they're completely gone, I wanted to give a nod to fireflies, whose lovely show each year never fails to mesmerize.

This year it seemed like we had more fireflies than usual. In the picture above, I was able to capture several of the buggers while they were still in the lawn at twilight, before they started flying around.

Here's a much better image from someone who knows how to take this kind of picture:

I actually found this image on the website for the city of Kitakyushu,
Japan, which is using its firefly population as an indicator of environmental health. It hopes to become the "World's Best Firefly City."

However, it faces stiff competition from Malaysia, where tropical fireflies congregate on trees along a river and then, amazingly, synchronize their flashes:

You can take a boat tour to see this natural wonder, which is used as a navigation aid by local residents boating along the river.

As beautiful as fireflies are, there's something you need to know. Some (not all) species of firefly engage in deception. Males of one species will imitate the mating signal of males from another species to attract females of that species. Why? Because they're hungry. That's right. The unwitting female ends up as a meal. And female fireflies are not above this behavior either. I think that's a little more cleverness than I like in my insects.

One final insect-related phenomenon, which I like to call, "Turn off the porch light!" It's about all those poor nocturnal insects attracted to our electric lights, thinking they're the moon. There's not a lot we can do, except dash in and out of our houses to avoid them.

But here's a more positive take on the porch light issue, featuring a really lovely green luna moth. If you're especially squeamish about insects, you may want to skip this video and take comfort in the fact that they'll all be dead soon, at least in northern climates.



Enjoy what little is left of summer, try to be tolerant of our insect friends and have a great holiday weekend!