Bug Monitoring

If you spent any of your childhood in the eastern half of the US, then you probably spent a few summer evenings chasing fireflies. It was always a challenge to try to catch them (without squishing them into glowing guts), put them in a jar, and not release any that you had already captured. I can remember running around in the grass, barefoot, chasing these magical creatures.

It seemed to me that fireflies, or lightning bugs, weren't as abundant as I got older. This indeed is the case. Their populations are dropping due to a myriad of reasons. Here in arid Colorado, fireflies are almost as elusive as Bigfoot. Most native Coloradans have only heard of these scientific wonders, or have only seen them when visiting other states. Our climate proves to be too dry for the bioluminescent insects. It is a rare summer when they make an appearance in Colorful Colorado.

The plentiful rain we've had this year has a silver lining – or, rather, a greenish-yellow glow. Lightning bugs have been spotting some grassy fields in Boulder recently. I received a tip on their location from the crazy, awesome folks with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. Since my Sweetpea and I volunteer with OSMP as bat monitors (I should tell you more about that sometime), we got the inside scoop. We traded our bat monitoring for bug monitoring last weekend and spent the evening trying to catch fireflies. This time, instead of trying to net them and carefully put them in a jar to observe up close and personal, we were trying to catch them on camera. With their dwindling populations, this seemed like a better choice; plus, I was a little wary of rattlesnakes in the tall grass.

Yes, we are technically adults, but we spent a couple of hours on a Saturday night watching in wonder at the glowing critters. Why can't we still enjoy simple pleasures that we did as kids, just because our birthdays are adding up?  We even returned for an encore performance the next night.

If you want to escape from adulthood for a brief time, then try hunting for fireflies. Look for tall grasses in an undeveloped and undisturbed area. They like rotting wood and moisture, so even small pools of water will do. Bring a camera, or just your sense of wonder and imagination. Afterall, when was the last time that you saw glowing animals (without mind-altering chemicals)? If you do spot them, you can even be semi-adult-like and report them here.

May your summer nights glow!