Where have all the fireflies gone?
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (46719)
July 31, 2025 11:16pm CST
Kind of reminds me of that song, where have all the flowers gone...but it's about fireflies, of course.
According to what I have read, every state in the US has fireflies, or if you refer to them by another well known name, lightning bugs, except Hawaii. I have enjoyed the fireflies my entire life, they remind me of being outside on summer evenings, watching for the first ones to light up and blink, catching them and putting them in a jar with little holes punched in the top. Sister and I would enjoy and admire them, but Grandma always had us release them before we went inside for the night.
The last few years, it's rather hard to even see fireflies now. Yards and fields that used to light up at dusk with their little sparkles, now have about 2-3 and that's it. I saw more this last week when we went to Southern Illinois, but still not as many as I remember when I used to live there.
Me being me, I had to look it up and read about it, of course. It seems they are becoming more and more scarce in many places now. It's rather sad. It's hard enough to hold on to childhood memories anyway, and the fireflies are a fun memories.
Supposedly they are disappearing due to loss of habitat, chemicals/pollution, and light pollution. Whatever the reason, I hope they don't leave us completely. We need our firefly moments!
Picture from Pinterest
7 people like this
6 responses
@LooeyVille (45)
• United States
21h
I see them now and again. I remember catching them and putting them in a jar when I was a kid
@Vikingswest1 (7238)
• United States
1 Aug
Growing up in Minnesota and Wisconsin, it was common to see hundreds of fireflies just about everywhere. I have family that still live back there. My last visit home, about ten years ago, there were still quite a few but not the numbers I recall as a kid. I looked it up just now and the internet says there are several different types of fireflies on the Olympic Peninsula. In my 35 years out here, I have yet to see a single one of them. On a camping trip to Idaho, there were plenty there. It was a pretty secluded campsite far away from city lights.
I think as humans expand, they have less of a chance to thrive.
