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.