Firefly Reports from Nebraska
Selected by Donald Ray Burger
Attorney at Law

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 Nebraska, listed in date order, alphabetically by city.

Aurora:

June 25, 2000: A reader notes: I was just surfing the web and ran across your site! I live in a small town called Aurora, Nebraska, which is in central Nebraska. I moved here from the Mpls/St.Paul area in October 1999. But in my previous position I traveled to this area on numerous occasions. I was stunned to see the number of fireflies on my summer trips to this area. As I write this e-mail, the vegetation surrounding the house is full of fireflies. At night, they number in the hundreds, possibly thousands, and my family is entertained to a steady flashing of light as if witnessing a distant thunderstorm approaching. I know there is more than one species because of the different light patterns emitted. To date, I haven't dusted off an entomology book to identify the particular inhabitants of our back yard. I don't know if fireflies travel well or not, but would be interested in sending some if you would like. They are so numerous that even in the daytime, a jar full of fireflies can be collected just in my backyard!

Beatrice:

July 31, 1999: A reader notes: I just visited your web site, and thought I'd write to you about where we've seen fireflies. My family grew up in Beatrice, Nebraska, and "lightning bugs" were always a part of our summers. They would appear about July. Beatrice has had a mosquito fogging program in effect for years, and apparently, it didn't effect the fireflies' population. We recently moved to California, and noticed there aren't any fireflies here. We wonder if the climate is too dry? Do you know why they aren't here?

Bellevue:

June 8, 1999: A reader reports: My children and I spotted the fireflies on June 8th. We live in Bellevue, Nebraska, about 15 minutes outside of Omaha. There are not as many as I remember seeing when I was a little girl at my grandma's in Alabama. We would catch entire jar fulls when I was small, keep them on our bedside table and release them in the morning. Here you can spot 5-10 at a time. Along the banks of ditches and underneath large trees seem to be their favorite spots, with the ditches and trees near the water their favorites. Thanks.

June 12, 1998: A reader writes: We just recently saw many fireflies here in Bellevue NE, near Omaha. The weather was humid and warm....they were under the large trees, and near the homes..but not in open spaces...and not in the more well lit areas.

Dalton:

June 11, 2005: A reader reports: Tonight I took my children out to see the fireflies. What a kick! It's been years since I went to see the little buggers. I live in Cheyenne County, Nebraska. Dalton, Nebraska, is my home town. Northwest of town there are natural springs and the headwaters to Greenwood Creek. I Know it sounds crazy to have conditions for fireflies in a desert, but come on out, we'll go see them. Today is June 10 and we didn't see more then a dozen or so; however, I have been there on other occasions and have gotten quite a show. To the best of my knowledge they have been there forever, even though we definitely live west of the Missouri River

Omaha:

June 29, 2005: Paul Lowry writes: Hello. Many fireflies here in the city of Omaha, Nebraska, in the last couple of weeks, about 30 to 40 per night, all very active and flashing regularly. I have seen many of them mating in the bushes next to my deck. They always seem to appear at the same time, about 1/2 hour after dusk. This week has been cooler (about 85 deg F.) and less humid and they do not seem to be as active as last week when it was in the mid 90's. As for lighting conditions, my backyard faces a busy street with street lights and is never completely dark, but they don't seem to mind. They also seem to react to lightning flashes in the sky, lighting up seconds after a lightning strike as if they were flashing back. Hope this helps
July 19, 2002: Diane Enoch writes: Thanks for the website and information on fireflies. I was just back in Council Bluffs, Iowa; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Nebraska and the fireflies were one of my special treats. I now live in Southern California, and I really miss the July evenings bejeweled with those tiny critters. I hope Houston is able to lure them back. I remember hearing crickets (or some type of critter) at the same time I see the fireflies. Does Houston still have them? I was in Houston last August/September and it was too rainy to know if there were any type of critters out there.

York:

July, 1997: A reader reports massive numbers of fireflies right after dusk in a field and a cornfield At the Yorkshire Motel in York, NE.

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