Where are all the fireflies?
We get asked this question all the time. The simple answer is your yard might no longer a good habitat for them.
Did you know most of a firefly’s life is spent under the leaves?
These cute summertime insects lay their eggs in rotting wood and leaf litter. The leaves provide a moist, insulating shelter, and support a healthy food web for young fireflies, sometimes called glow-worms. The leaves keep them warm, fed, and hidden!
Leaves also act as a natural mulch to provide many nutrients for plants. They serve as valuable habitat not only for fireflies, but also for many other insects, migrating birds, and small mammals that need leaf litter to survive and overwinter.
Firefly glow-worms are voracious predators of snails, slugs, worms, and soft-bodied insects. They are a gardener’s friend. While they may live for two years under a leaf layer, most adults don’t live more than two weeks!
What happens to the leaves that fall in your yard? Do you rake and send them away from your property along with next summer’s fireflies?
Why do fireflies blink?
Fireflies use their light to “talk” to other fireflies and find a mate. Each species has a special flash-code. When a male firefly wants to communicate with a female, he flies near the ground and flashes his code. Once near the ground, a female can tell if he’s from the same species. Most female fireflies can’t fly. She answers his flashes by responding with a single flash so he can find her.
Predators get a different message from these lights. Although they can easily spot fireflies by their glow, they rarely eat them. That’s because fireflies taste bad and can be poisonous to some critters. Their flashing is a warning to predators to stay away!
Do you have lights on outside at night?
For fireflies, artificial outdoor lighting can interfere with their attempts to signal each other. Outdoor lighting should be shielded and directed down to the ground where it is needed. Up to 50% of outdoor lighting goes up into the sky where it blinds people looking at it and confuses fireflies and other wildlife.
Do you use pesticides in your yard?
Pesticides and lawn chemicals are harmful to fireflies which live in soil and leaf litter. Also, mosquito spraying kills many nontarget insects including fireflies.
Be a Firefly Hero! You can help fireflies remain part of the magic of spring and summer nights:
· When leaves drop, rake them if you want, but keep them in your yard!
· Turn off outdoor lights in the evening if you don’t need them or shield them downward. Close the blinds if you have lights near inside windows.
· Use non-pesticide solutions for insect control.
