Literally everyone should, they’re going extinct from all the light pollution. I saw a mating pair of fireflies the other day, it was the first fireflies I’d seen in over a decade.
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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Is light pollution killing them? I would have expected the same things as with all other insects, so pesticides and loss is habitat.
The glow show isn't just for fun, fireflies are out there trying to get laid. Having lots of light makes it really hard for them to find each other.
I've had first hand experience with habitat restoration projects in urban regions where hundreds of different insect and animal species return, but fireflies remain illusive.
It is indeed anther factor with them, so 3 big ones, habitat loss, light pollution and pesticides. source
In the United States and Canada, habitat loss and degradation, light pollution, and climate change (in particular, associated drought and sea level rise) appear to be some of the primary drivers of decline.
That's hard for me to fathom. I see many hundreds every year.
Man. I miss them so much from my childhood.
I have put years of careful neglect into my back yard just so I can hear birds sing, toads and frogs croak, and see fireflies at night. It's paid off, despite the less welcome visitors like skunks, mice, and the like. There's times I consider having the whole damn thing cut back and trying to get it less random than it is, but damn it is so relaxing out there.
See, it started out with native plants being encouraged to come in, seeded where possible. But then my body quit being able to do much care of it, and my dad got past the point of being able to mow the non meadow parts, and it all just snowballed. So now there's a bloody forest starting up in the farther section that's creeping across the rest.
But damn. Those tree frogs serenading after rains has been so fucking nice to hear. And seeing rabbits unafraid to just chill. And the dozens of species of birds that now perch on the closest trees when I come out to feed the chickens because they know my monkey ass ain't gonna do anything but throw a handful of scratch their way and laugh at them.
Well, except the cardinals. Those buggers don't just perch. They hop around giving me the old stink eye for not being fast enough with the treats. Those little twat waffles are the third certain generation of cardinals. I think, anyway. I know that there's been two generations of juveniles around, and the adults I first saw had different details. I guess it could be the same adults, with variations to their black areas over time. But they look enough different to me.
I don't snow white the birds or anything, I don't let them get that close that they start treating humans as trustworthy. But they're good company when I have the stamina to get out there and chill
Thanks for helping the animals :)
When I was a kid, they were common on summer nights. But I don't see them at all anymore, it must have been like 15 years since I saw them last. What is driving them extinct?
But it's probably the fact that their environment is being destroyed by dead lawn (CC c/fucklawns) and chemicals
but first, are you spending as much time outside as you used to? I still could see some, well, I'm not from the US so garden are mostly wild around here with few exceptions
Around me, pesticides. I did get to see them out last year some at my mom's farm. She's got some prairie planted around the property and then crop fields outside of that. I think the prairie buffer gives them a chance to live coupled with her blocking aerial spraying of the field adjacent to her property. There's not near as many as there used to be, but there's still few things better than seeing them flashing their little butts across the yard at night.
We get a lot of fireflies in our yard because I'm lazy, uh, I mean we totally planned everything and don't rake leaves from under the hedges on purpose!
Okay the first few years it was laziness but after I noticed how many more our yard had compared to the neighbors I asked my science friend and she told me to keep doing it. So we are!
Well of course I know him. He's me.
They're excited because, like every other beautiful thing on this planet, there are so few of them now
I get them every year in my yard, and every year I am just as thankful that I get to see them. My friends don't seem to understand why I get so excited to see them, but it's truly their loss in my eyes. :'-)
Seeing them is on my bucket list.
I saw the northern lights already, but fireflies will take some planning and effort.
Every year around the solstice they start coming around, and by the middle of July the marsh behind our house is an eerie neon green.
Super rad.
My back yard is up against a wood line. Tons of mosquitoes, almost unbearable so I buy a big zapper so I can sit outside. Then that first year I start noticing lightning bugs, so the zapper is off. I have to watch them through a window but we have lots of them.
It’s just sad I can’t sit outside to enjoy them.
Look into mosquito pheromone traps. They're just stinky bait in a net with a cpu-type fan. It only targets mosquitoes.
Can you use any of the anti-bug spray you can put on yourself? I'm not sure how chemical infested they are these days so maybe you don't want that?
I am going to build some bird houses, bat houses and I’ve seen this thing people Build fake ponds in 5 gallon buckets and put the mosquito pucks in them. Change it out every few weeeks but it’s a fake habitat for mosquitoes and it may reduce. Not sure. I’ll try some of this next year.
I get so many at my place that it could shame any Xmas light display at their peak. I still tell my wife every time, "oh look, the fireflies are out".
Twice this year, months apart, I’ve seen 1 single firefly randomly in my yard. First time I’ve seen any since the hundreds that were around in my youth. Bittersweet.
If you have your own yard and don't live in an HOA, you can leave the leaves that fall in your yard undisturbed until Summer rolls around. It should give them time to make more for you to see next year, hopefully! :-)
The funny part is I used to have leaves all over my yard years ago but I’m only seeing them now, after I had to remove the trees. And I see them in my backyard which has never had planted trees. Maybe they really like the handful of leaves my potted lime tree drops.
I remember as a kid they were so plentiful that fields would have thousands of little lights in them in the summer.
I miss that.
Doesn't everyone?
I'm just happy to see them at all.
I've never actually seen one IRL, and they are supposed to be native to the area I live so that kinda sucks.
I've never seen one IRL, but that's not too surprising given they don't live near me
I don't think I've seen one since I was a teenager. Don't spend much time outdoors around dusk anymore.
Despite having used GFP markers to image biofilms with a confocal microscope at Stanford, deep in my gut I'm still not convinced that bioluminescence is not an elaborate hoax.
Living in NZ and therefore having never seen fireflies, they sound pretty bloody impressive to me. Maybe even some form of magic
We do have glowworms though. If you live near the right cave. They're cool as