Fireflies in the back field.

[DMax82]

A couple of nights ago I photographed the fireflies in the back field behind our new house for the first time. I struggled to get a good composition, but will keep trying. Another frustrating thing is the glow cast by our security light (first picture). I will speak with the power company about removing it. Forecast of rain for the next two evenings. The waxing moon should help with exposure. Pretty excited to now have lightning bugs in my backyard and not have to wait until camping to see them.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice!

None out here yet, but later in the year they'll be out. One of our favorite things to do in summer is take the kids way out in the county on a dark backroad with lots of lighting bugs, stop the car and turn off the headlights. Wait a few seconds and then flash the headlights off and on just once, as fast as you can. The lightning bugs light up all at once in response! :laughing:

The kids really enjoyed that. :thumbsup:

 

[oosik]

I got to see fire flies one evening while visiting in Nebraska. However - nothing like in your two pictures. I found out what chiggers were also.

 

[DMax82]

Nice!

None out here yet, but later in the year they'll be out. One of our favorite things to do in summer is take the kids way out in the county on a dark backroad with lots of lighting bugs, stop the car and turn off the headlights. Wait a few seconds and then flash the headlights off and on just once, as fast as you can. The lightning bugs light up all at once in response! :laughing:

The kids really enjoyed that. :thumbsup:

Thanks MossRoad, I'll have to try that trick next time I'm out in the woods! I have one spot in mind that should work perfectly. Over in the Smoky Mountains there is a spot (Elkmont) famous for its synchronized fireflies. I have been there and it is lovely, but never during firefly season.

 

[DMax82]

I got to see fire flies one evening while visiting in Nebraska. However - nothing like in your two pictures. I found out what chiggers were also.

Along the lines of chiggers, I was reading up on how to increase the firefly population, and it turns out that everything they love (tall grass, standing water, etc) is loved by mosquitoes as well. So I decided that I was happy with the current level of each!

 

[TractorGuy]

We used to have a bunch in our cedars before I had the trees behind them cut.

Have had a lone Firefly outside my living room window every night this week.

 

[Thomas]

Mother nature own light show. :thumbsup:
About couple more weeks before blinkers are seen here.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Saw them here a few nights ago when i was up at 2 am.

 

[MossRoad]

Ours usually show up in the corn fields when the corn is about knee high. One of the best visual effect is looking perpendicular to the road while driving along and seeing millions of them! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention...

Anyone remember catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar with grass and keeping them by your bed? And in the morning, they were usually dead? People always told us it was because they ran out of air. Turns out there's plenty of air, they were dying from dehydration. They need lots of moisture. Not so much air.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention...

Anyone remember catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar with grass and keeping them by your bed? And in the morning, they were usually dead? People always told us it was because they ran out of air. Turns out there's plenty of air, they were dying from dehydration. They need lots of moisture. Not so much air.

We put holes in the lid. Fun to let them loose in movie theatre.

 

[DMax82]

Yes, we also caught them and put them in glass jars with holes poked in the lids. That never worked out as planned.

Well, since the promised rain never materialized this evening, I went back out. They were super active at dusk, as I was setting up my camera. I started with a narrow view, but decided to switch to a wider frame after a few minutes. Once again the security light was a real frustration. The sky started cloudy, which was great, then began to clear, causing some star trails. I don't really like the look of them. Also the composite has some weird discoloration in the sky that isn't present in single frames. Lots of hot pixels too. Oh well, getting warmer. On a related note, there is a huge difference in brightness on the picture below between my laptop screen and the external monitor that it's hooked up to. The trees are pretty much just black on the external monitor.

 

[Sigarms]

DMax82

Curious what the camera setting was and time of evening?

We have a bunch out now ourselves and may suggest to the one boy to take his camera out to see what he can get.

 

[MossRoad]

We put holes in the lid. Fun to let them loose in movie theatre.

Yeah, we put holes in the lid, too, and they still died overnight from lack of water.

 

[MossRoad]

There's no breaker for the security light? You mentioned it's on a power pole, so is it not run through your meter and just a monthly charge from the power company?

Several of my neighbors have dusk to dawn streetlight-type lights on their houses and poles. It pretty much kills the night view of the sky in the entire neighborhood. I had to take my kids way out about 30-40 miles to find a good dark area so they could see the milky way. We used to see it here all the time 30-40 years ago. Too much light pollution now. Sad.

 

[Sigarms]

There's no breaker for the security light? You mentioned it's on a power pole, so is it not run through your meter and just a monthly charge from the power company?

Several of my neighbors have dusk to dawn streetlight-type lights on their houses and poles. It pretty much kills the night view of the sky in the entire neighborhood. I had to take my kids way out about 30-40 miles to find a good dark area so they could see the milky way. We used to see it here all the time 30-40 years ago. Too much light pollution now. Sad.

We have one down in our back field below the house (light) that we actually like to see if there are any critters walking around below the house, but I honestly could never understand having one of those lights right next to your home. Would bug the living crap out of me. I just assume anyone living in the country is armed to the teeth and trying to break in would be a bad idea.

 

[MossRoad]

The problem with dusk to dawn lights is they cumulatively add to light pollution in an area. If you're out in the middle of nowhere, it's not that noticeable. If you're anywhere near a city, it all adds up.

Look up Rochester, Indiana and draw a line up to South Bend. At any time of night, anywhere along that U.S. 31, you can see the lights from Chicagoland, 115 miles to the west. We have to go south of Rochester to really get a good view of the milkyway now. And even out there, you can see those dusk to dawn lights on every farm and pole building.

They are on so much, that no one pays attention to them and they provide a false sense of security. If they were on motion sensing, then it would draw more attention because it would be odd that the light is on, VS it's on all the time. Hey, why is that light on?

 

[MossRoad]

One more things about lights. Several years ago I got onto a 7pm-3:00am shift. This was in downtown South Bend. When I'd come out of work at 3:15, the birds were all chirping and flying around. The city lights never go out. It's weird to see birds flying around at night. I'd get home at 3:30 and no birds. They didn't start until about 30 minutes before sunrise. There is no dawn or dusk in a highly lit city. It's kinda interesting to see the effects of lighting on critters.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

One more things about lights. Several years ago I got onto a 7pm-3:00am shift. This was in downtown South Bend. When I'd come out of work at 3:15, the birds were all chirping and flying around. The city lights never go out. It's weird to see birds flying around at night. I'd get home at 3:30 and no birds. They didn't start until about 30 minutes before sunrise. There is no dawn or dusk in a highly lit city. It's kinda interesting to see the effects of lighting on critters.

Brings to mind the moth and the flame, and the June bugs flying around the street light. I also noticed that birds like to fly into my shop and the garage, and they cannot or do not find their way out, even though the doors are open. I also learned, that if you leave the doors open, when the sun goes down, they will fly to the light...meaning an open door.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

One more things about lights. Several years ago I got onto a 7pm-3:00am shift. This was in downtown South Bend. When I'd come out of work at 3:15, the birds were all chirping and flying around. The city lights never go out. It's weird to see birds flying around at night. I'd get home at 3:30 and no birds. They didn't start until about 30 minutes before sunrise. There is no dawn or dusk in a highly lit city. It's kinda interesting to see the effects of lighting on critters.

Usually i dont hear birds till about 430 am, but i was up at 2am the other night and i heard birds. Thought it was strange. Pretty dark where i live.