Do you remember watching fireflies? They are such magical little insects. The fact that they can light up parts of their body is so unusual. I feel like there used to be fireflies in our area. Growing up, my grandparents had a property on a lake just off of Dale Mabry Highway. It was a couple of acres, and there was lots of natural habitat and not a whole lot of lights. I remember being out there one evening with some jars and attempting to catch fireflies to make little natural lamps.

That was a long time ago, and since then, I can’t think of a time that I’ve seen fireflies in the Tampa area. However, on some of our trips over the last year, we have. Last year it was in Colonial Williamsburg, walking back to the hotel, when we saw the first little guys lighting up some of the bushes. And then earlier this year, when we traveled to Austin, we were walking from the main building to the rooms we were staying in and there were fireflies everywhere. I tried to get a video of them flickering in the bushes, but the best I could do was one still picture with a faint dot in the lower right corner. Not super-impressive, I know. I can’t believe I couldn’t snap a single picture, but then I think I enjoyed watching them dance around the bushes like little meteors so much that taking a picture was an afterthought.

All of these sightings got me thinking. Why aren’t there many fireflies in our area? Lots of constant construction and removal of natural habitat probably doesn’t help. But we still have lots of bees and butterflies around. Maybe we just don’t see them because there is so much artificial light during the night. With a little research I found that fireflies can be seen in central Florida mostly in spring, from March to April, and that you are more likely to find them near a body of water. That makes sense since my grandparents lived on a lake. If anyone has seen fireflies in our area, I’d love to hear where you did. And in the meantime, I’m going to start adding some firefly habitat to my garden. See our Teaching Thursday about attracting fireflies for some of the things you can do in your garden to create a place for fireflies. In the meantime, you’ll probably find me squinting at the bushes each evening, looking for a little illumination.