To submit your own report email burger@burger.com
Please include your city/town and state, and the date of your sighting. Include as many details as you can, such as numbers of fireflies, location (rural/city/wooded area, etc), temperature, time, and so on. Thanks for helping with this project.
Below are reports from Minnesota, listed in date order, alphabetically by city.
Burnsville::
July 20, 2002: A reader notes: Hi. I live in Burnsville, Minnesota, and we still have fireflies in our
backyard which is heavily wooded and by
a pond.
Byron:
August 7, 2000: A reader notes: Fireflies have made a significant comeback to Byron, MN. I have seen
them in my backyard since 1997. It's a rare night, except for heavy rain,
that you can't see numerous little flashes flitting from yard to yard. I
remember them from my childhood when you could brush a bush and a cloud of
fireflies would light up around you. I'm sure our decreasing use of
pesticides has made a difference. I also now see redwing blackbirds again and
they were absent for quite a while. My next exciting sighting will hopefully
be a bluebird.
Christmas Lake:
July 24, 1997: A reader saw a great many fireflies near Christmas Lake, Minnesota, in the fields along Powers Road between Chanhassen and Excelsior, MN.
Felton:
July 4, 2005: A reader writes:
I live in rural Felton, Minnesota, and it is July 3, 2005, at about 11:30 pm and I
have never seen a firefly, but I recently moved to this area and I saw a single
firefly in my back yard. It is about 75 degrees and we have had lots of rain
recently, lots of thurder-storms, and tonight many people are setting off
fireworks. I wonder if the flashing from the fireworks attracted this
firefly and why I only saw one. I watched him for about 5 minutes and when
he went into my garden, I didn't see him flash anymore.
Lakeville:
August 6, 2000: A reader writes: It is always a special treat to drive through central Iowa at dusk and see the lightning bugs come out. On July 14th, 2000, on the way from Minneapolis to Grinnell, Iowa, we noticed a bumper crop of lightning bugs. At my parent's home, a couple miles west of Grinnell, Iowa, there were so many lightning bugs in the mowed grass around the house that you could walk with your hands out and catch them without even trying. I don't ever remember them being that easy to catch. They are easiest to spot in the yard, but they can also been seen above the corn and soy bean fields.
It was one of those still, not-too-hot, humid Iowa evenings where the smell of a skunk can linger on for hours. My folks keep the yard mowed, but there are plenty of ditches and a cedar tree grove attached to the perimeter of the yard. They have a variety of trees and bushes that are getting so big that it seems almost like a woods. Their house is at the top of a hill, surrounded by cornfields this year. Some years its soy beans, and unfortunately their Conservation Reserve Program ended a couple of years ago and they had to replant their CRP land with crops.
We rarely see any lightning bugs in our yard in our suburban Lakeville, Minnesota, neighborhood. However, I did spot a few one evening early in July this year. I have many fond memories of catching lightning bugs as the sun finally went down after a long summer day in small-town Iowa.
I hope one day you can get them to go back to Houston. I saw your web site in the Sunday Access magazine in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Northern Minnesota:
August 7, 2000: A reader writes: I live in Rochester, Mn and I love fireflies. After supper each night, my family and I go on firefly
hunts. They are everywhere here! I live near the downtown of Rochester, MN, so
I can't believe the light theory. The nights we see the most fireflies are the very
warm, humid nights. The nearest water source to my home is a river eight
blocks away. The temperature in the winter gets below
zero, so I don't think the cold bothers them. I believe the butterfly gardens
help a bit but not as much as people think. On one side of my house is a
very large English garden, the other direction an alley. We find equally as
many in both areas. Plus, at our cabin in Northern MN, where it is sandy
soil and nothing really grows but Pines and Oaks - we see the most! In a
book, my dad read that fireflies do not exist west of the Mississippi, but it
didn't say why. I too am curious as to why.
We catch our fireflies, put them in a jar and put the jar in warm water so
they will light up more. We noticed that they did not light up very much
when in captivity, until we did this (put them in water). We release them at
the end of the hunt though since they will feed on each other if no other
food is present.
As for the fire ants, I am not sure what those are. We have red ants here,
but they are smaller than black ants.
Good luck with your findings. Hopefully you too can go for hunts with your
family.
Rochester:
August 7, 2000: A reader writes: I live in Rochester, Mn and I love fireflies. After supper each night, my family and I go on firefly
hunts. They are everywhere here! I live near the downtown of Rochester, MN, so
I can't believe the light theory. The nights we see the most fireflies are the very
warm, humid nights. The nearest water source to my home is a river eight
blocks away. The temperature in the winter gets below
zero, so I don't think the cold bothers them. I believe the butterfly gardens
help a bit but not as much as people think. On one side of my house is a
very large English garden, the other direction an alley. We find equally as
many in both areas. Plus, at our cabin in Northern MN, where it is sandy
soil and nothing really grows but Pines and Oaks - we see the most! In a
book, my dad read that fireflies do not exist west of the Mississippi, but it
didn't say why. I too am curious as to why.
We catch our fireflies, put them in a jar and put the jar in warm water so
they will light up more. We noticed that they did not light up very much
when in captivity, until we did this (put them in water). We release them at
the end of the hunt though since they will feed on each other if no other
food is present.
As for the fire ants, I am not sure what those are. We have red ants here,
but they are smaller than black ants.
Good luck with your findings. Hopefully you too can go for hunts with your
family.
Roseville:
June 28, 1999: A reader notes: I live in Roseville, MN, just outside of the Twin Cities. Saw one reddish
firefly at dusk while watering my garden, near the wooded area of the lot.
I'm trying to find out how to get more - if it's slugs they like, I've got
plenty of those! Thanks for your site, links, etc.
Spring Valley:
August 7, 2000: A reader writes: Spring Valley, MN. Plenty of fireflies nightly - we live in a rural area, with no other houses for about 1.5 miles. The fireflies seem to like a wild grassy habitat, which is where we see them more than over the yard or near the house. We don't spray, cut or fertilize these tall pasture areas. We see them more where it is darker (away from the yard light), but whether that indicates firefly preference or just showing up better is hard to tell. We used to live in Indiana, where there were lots of fireflies. Here there are fewer, but interestingly, they are much harder to catch than the Hoosier fireflies! They are faster and don't seem to flash quite as often, making it hard to track them.
Wadena:
July 19, 2002: A reader writes: I think your site is real nice. I am one of the lucky ones that lives
in a state where we do have them. My home is here in Wadena, Minnesota. As a matter of fact, our season just
passed about a week ago. I was enjoying catching them out by the river.
Even
if I am 33 years old, you're never to old to enjoy and firefly. Thanks
for
the information and I wish you luck in your quest.