mondhasen | nature update

I was telling my son on Monday that all the fireflies disappeared a couple of weeks back after a hellacious rain. I mean totally gone, not one could be seen anywhere on the property. I've never noticed this before, that they'd go before the end of August, so it worried me that maybe there was spraying going on for the ongoing moth invasion, but the moths were still abundant (f'ing moths, literally, hundreds of females on the trees being attended to by hundreds of males...).

So last night I go out the basement door with The Huntress and spook a bunny in the process: the rabbit and I are more surprised than she as pup tears out through the door in pursuit. Of course the rabbit gets clear. But hey, I see a firefly blink... and another, and damned if the whole backyard isn't filling up with their little lights :D Fortuitous?

I also heard a deer chuffing away in the backyard yesterday. We've had a beautiful young buck hanging around and I wonder if it wasn't him.

And rabbits... out front as well as the one in the back. It's probably the same rabbit circling about, but it could also be two separate bunnies. The one out back may have a nest started.

Finally, a most unusual addition to my backyard flora

(click to see full sizes)

It's a Canada Lily, or Meadow Lily: there are three but only one has a bloom. We've never had these before, or I've just never noticed them in the last 50 or so years there... Apparently White-tailed deer love eating these, so this one within the dog's fenced yard should be safe...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's cool how they all "re-appeared" like that.

It was crazy cool ;o) It's been a complete void out there for a couple of weeks then *bang* there they are. And lots of them, not just one or two.

Maybe they were just hiding. :O)

I'm finding it interesting how every year there seems to be a new infestation of some insect. We, too, had a month attack a few years ago but definitely not like the one in 2003 when I was able to kill 100+ inside every night. Then last year we had the bombardier beetle invasion. Those are the little bastards that spray you with stink if you bother them. Normally my zucchini would be devastated by now with squash bugs. So far so good. As for fireflies...they are now just a fond memory of my childhood in the Midwest. Love the lily, BTW. My sister planted day lilies for me last year and they bloomed nicely in spring. I still have one still going strong which is pretty amazing.

We had a terrible Gypsy Moth invasion in the early 70's. They went after the oaks and some areas looked like nuclear winter. They were sprayed, but they reappeared in the 80's. This invasion now is also the Gypsy Moths, and the DEM says half of our 400,000 acres of woodland were badly defoliated. Next year will be worse for us, looking at all the egg masses.

We had lots of tiger lilies around when we first moved here, so these were a treat to come across!

Neat. Can't say I've ever seen fireflies (or any glowing insect) here at all — though my aunt, down south halfway through the country, has them.

The lily's pretty, too. Hope it'll get to stick around!

Fireflies are fun to watch, especially if the are lots of them out at once: very relaxing.

Yes, I hope these lilies keep coming back as well. They add a bit of wild to the yard.

Ooh, that's rather a nifty lily. =:D

Not sure I've ever seen fireflies, actually. Though ISTR reading in some travel guide (Malaysia, I think) of a particular spot that is/was renowned for being essentially World Firefly Headquarters..

Maybe it's a quantum bunny, and you simply witnessed their probability field stretching around the house. ^_^ (Speaking of whom, here's one I just uploaded, for a quite wonderful expression =:)

The most fireflies I've seen together were in a corn field in Nebraska (or somewhere off of I-80). Hundreds and hundreds for miles on end. What a light show!

Great expression on that rabbit!

Awesome News!

btw... once a GLOW WORM appeared in our yard.... once and once only.... I wish we could see more of those.. it was quite amazing....

The most fireflies I ever saw was when my brother and I were chasing them thru a sugar cane field on South America :}

Glow worms are great! There are three places I've seen them here, two consistently and one place at random.

Sounds like things have been interesting in your yard there. ^^

Here, a few fireflies remain. (Lightning bugs, we call them. :) ) But they are slowly fading as time goes on.

Little rain though, so other less pleasant bugs are thriving.
Cicadas and Cicada Killer wasps are plentiful.

We're in a drought, per the DEM, though heavy rain is due tomorrow. As such a lot of plants are dying, including our Indian Pipes :o(

Cicadas are back for us as well. We called these heat bugs when I was little: they would be screaming in the trees on hot August nights.

nature update

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