Photographing the Common Eastern (USA) Firefly (Photinus pyralis) photos and information on how to get great pictures of fireflies even in flight ([We need to ask around to see if bug people feel like this photography link is OK to share, or would be harmful])

Solutions

Petition Against Activities That Harm Fireflies & Their Habitats

This level 4 action can help signal to politicians that we do care about the environment, and help convince them to help protect our ecosystems.

International

Become an advocate for “Dark Skies” policies to control light pollution in your area.

Asia

China

• Ban the Commercial Harvesting of Wild Fireflies in the U.S. and China 

Europe

• Save biodiversity in Europe. Stop wildlife extinction in EU 

North America

Mexico

• Mexico: Protect Sensitive Forests in Enchanted Tlaxcala Forests 

USA

• Ban the Commercial Harvesting of Wild Fireflies in the U.S. and China 

• Petition to Ban Leaf Blowers in Boston 

Ways to Attract Fireflies

The Wet Bag Trick

1. Don’t rake leaves and put them on the curb. You are raking up firefly larvae and throwing them away.

2. Collect bags of leaves to make “Bag Compost”. Collect 5-15 bags.

3. Wet bags down in a shady lawn area. Keep moist/wet for 3-6 months or up to a year.

4. Bags will attract snails/slugs. This is food for growing fireflies.

5. In Spring, put bag compost in your garden. Put it in mounds and till it into your soil.

6. Repeat each year. It might take as long as 5 years, or as quick as that same year, to get fireflies in your garden.

Additional

Common Names from Around the World

English: The names of the fireflies

What we call fireflies or glow worms in English have different names in other languages:

• In Portuguese they are known as pirilampo.

• In French: ver luisant, and the species that shine during the flight: pike.

• In Spanish, people call them luciérnagas or gusanos de luz

• In German, they are called Glühwürmchen or Johanniskäfer.

• In Dutch, glimworm or vuurvliegje.

• In Swedish and Norwegian, sankthansorm or ildflye.

• In Finnish, kiiltomato.'

• In Hindi, they are jugnu.

Español: "Los nombres de las luciérnagas

Lo que en español se llaman luciérnagas o gusanos de luz recibe distintos nombres en otros idiomas:

• En portugués son conocidas como pirilampo.

• En francés responden al nombre de ver luisant, y las especies que brillan durante el vuelo, lucioles.

• En inglés como glow-worms, o con el genérico fire-flies, que designa a todas las especies de luciérnagas.

• En alemán, se llaman Glühwürmchen o Johanniskäfer.

• En neerlandés u holandés, glimworm o vuurvliegje.

• En sueco y noruego, sankthansorm o ildflye.

• En filandés, kiiltomato." - https://www.gusanosdeluz.com/luciernagas/los-nombres-de-las-luciernagas/

Tools

• Scientific Literature "... a list of scientific and popular firefly literature (over 2200 citations), concerning firefly taxonomy, ecology, biochemistry, and so much more. This list is periodically updated."

• The Selangor Declaration – Conservation of Fireflies (PDF) "Participants from 13 countries met at the Second International Firefly Symposium in Selangor, Malaysia from 2nd to 5th August 2010. They included experts in the fields of taxonomy, genetics, biology, behavior, ecology and conservation of fireflies as well as members of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, corporations and the public. The theme of the symposium was ‘Firefly Conservation: From Science to Practice.’ The following declaration was made in conjunction with the symposium at the Third International Firefly Research Network Meeting on 5th August 2010 and updated by the same body on the 25th November 2014."
  
  After 4 years, in 2014, during the 4th International Firefly Symposium, the Selangor Declaration was relooked again. It was discussed, amended, agreed by the participants and updated"

• World Firefly Day includes yearly date, a video, and interactive map of Fire Fly Day events.

Maps

• Mass Audubon Firefly Watch "Join a network of citizen scientists around the country by observing fireflies in your own backyard, and help scientists map fireflies! Report your sightings, then share your photos here." This map covers North and Central America including Iceland

• Swiss glow worm survey, 2001 "People have seen Lampyris noctiluca higher than 2000 metres in the Alps on the sunny sides of the mountains). This map shows the regions where French or Italian is spoken, because our survey was only launched in the French area of our country (the few spots in the centre and south are in the Italian-spoken ‘Canton du Tessin’ where another glow-worm species is also present).
  
  It is curious that this glow worm survey is in fact a map of the residential houses (in sunny place, southward): Geneva, north of Lake Geneva, north of Lake Neuchatel, and touristic villages in the Alps. They are all places where people have a garden and spend a part of the night outside in the summer.
  
  We received very few observations from the agricultural zones – a surprise. But we don’t know if people there tried to look for glow worms.
  
  Yves Gonseth, director of the Swiss Centre for Fauna Cartography, is very happy with these results. Of course, they are not scientific. But he thinks that they are of value: before the survey, the centre had no idea of the status of glow worms in Switzerland. He has been surprised by the number of observations and their viability. In conclusion, glow worms are apparently everywhere in Switzerland and survive in the private gardens – a good thing. Hope it will be the same in the future...."

Deutschland / Germany 

• Meldung von Ereignissen in Deutschland (German/Deutsch): "Haben Sie in Deutschland Glühwürmchen oder Glühwürmchen gesichtet? Vielleicht möchtest du deine Beobachtung teilen und sende eine kurze Nachricht... Dazu müssen Sie lediglich die sieben Fragen aus dem untenstehenden Fragenkatalog kurz per E-Mail beantworten."

• Sächsische Glühwürmchenprojekt "Eine SEHR ausführliche Erfassung von Lamprohiza splendidula-Vorkommen in Sachsen mit hoher zeitlicher und räumlicher Auflösung" "Please let us know:

  • if you've spotted fireflies on a night hike

  • if you have looked for them in vain in certain places

  • if your parents or grandparents know places where fireflies used to be"

North America

This section includes information for Central America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the USA.

Oceana

Australia

Only 3 glow worms have been described in Australia, but there are 25 known firefly species.

"Unlike ground-dwelling, luminescent glowworms, adult fireflies are winged. They flit around all continents bar Antarctica, preferring warm and wet wooded habitats. In Australia, fireflies inhabit the forests and mangroves along the coast of New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory." - https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2014/10/12/lightning-bugs-natures-flash-dancers/

When fire ripped through Kangaroo Valley, it took out a substantial number of Blue Mountain fire flies, Dr Ballantyne told The New Daily.

Now that population is gone and the area will have to be “re-invaded” by the species, Dr Ballantyne said, but there’s no guarantees that will work.

This particular population was only discovered a couple of years ago, and was in a bushy corner on someone’s private property. That’s where you’ll find most fireflies dwelling in Australia, Dr Ballantyne said.

Not a lot of people are aware the country has fireflies, let alone two dozen different species, because they’re not in places commonly seen by the public.

“They only live in areas where there’s moist undergrowth,” Dr. Ballantyne said. And most of those areas – dense scrubland, rainforests, mangroves and national parks – tend to be inaccessible by the everyday person.

Mostly, you’ll find them in Australia’s top end and down the east coastline, she said. Occasionally, you’ll be lucky to spot a couple in a suburban backyard in Brisbane’s outer pockets.

Because of their inaccessibility, it’s relatively hard to measure Australia’s firefly population.

In other countries, such as parts of Asia and the US, there are tourism promotions built around firefly season, Dr Ballantyne said. Ironically, some of these ventures are contributing to habitat loss, which is decimating populations.

Whereas in the US, scientists can use a range of factors to pinpoint exactly when the beetles will be firing, Australia’s unpredictable seasons mean that’s just not possible.

The life cycle of a firefly spans about two years, the majority of that spent as a caterpillar. There’s only about three weeks of a firefly’s life when they’re actually a ‘fire’ fly. It’s usually in summer, but just when that is will depend on the previous two years of rainfall, Dr Ballantyne said.

While our fireflies’ lives depend precariously on our climate and environment, we don’t have the added two factors that plague other countries’ populations, at least not to the same degree.

In East Asia and Southern America, artificial light at night – illuminated billboards, street lights and the general glow from ever-expanding cities – is competing with and suppressing male fireflies’ natural instinct to glow and attract females.

An increased use of pesticides on agricultural land was the third identified global factor pushing down the population."

Informations en Français

Pollution lumineuse et bioluminescence

"La pollution lumineuse est un phénomène que l’on associe à l’utilisation des éclairages artificiels. C’est la conséquence d’un développement de l’urbanisation et des activités humaines. Il y a pollution lumineuse lorsque la lumière artificielle propagée dans le ciel la nuit est supérieure à 10% de la luminosité naturelle nocturne.

D’un point de vue écologique, la pollution lumineuse modifie la composante nocturne de l’environnement et donc impacte les comportements et rythmes biologiques des organismes vivants et des écosystèmes.

L’exposition à une source de lumière artificielle peut entraîner une réponse répulsive, autrement dit les individus s’éloignent de la source de lumière (perception accrue du risque d’être chassé par un prédateur, déplacements et recherche de nourritures limités). Au contraire, chez les insectes nocturnes et les oiseaux migrateurs, organismes qui utilisent la lumière des astres pour se déplacer dans l’obscurité, l’exposition à la pollution lumineuse entraîne une réponse attractive, autrement dit les individus s’approchent de la source de lumière.

Les espèces bioluminescentes, c’est-à-dire les espèces capables de produire et d’émettre leur propre lumière, sont particulièrement concernées, à l’image des lucioles et des vers luisants qui utilisent des signaux lumineux pour attirer leurs partenaires (reproduction altérée)." - http://www.asterella.eu/NEOKIPOS/pollution_et_bioluminescence.php?pays=FRANCE&p=

Outils 

• Les missions spéciales de l'Observatoire des Vers Luisants "Une petite balade de 200 à 300 m près de chez vous, environ une heure après le coucher du soleil, par temps clair, durant laquelle vous comptez les vers luisants de part et d'autre du chemin à l'aller et au retour. C'est peu pour vous, mais beaucoup pour nous ! Nous vous préparerons un itinéraire approprié et une fiche de mission, qu'il vous suffira de nous retourner complétée par mail."

• L'observatoire des vers luisants et des lucioles "Avez-vous déjà vu des vers luisants ou des lucioles ?" "Vous n'avez jamais vu de ver luisant? S'il-vous-plaît, remplissez quand même ce formulaire. Il est important de disposer d'un nombre suffisant de jardins sans ver luisant pour comparer."