Fireflies (Burnsville, Winona, Oakdale: house, neighborhood, middle school)

[Nikyma]

Okay, so we were watching TV the other night, and a commercial came on where a family was catching fireflies. My five year old turned to me and said, "Mommy, what are those bugs?" I feel like I've totally failed as a mother! This kid is the ultimate bug hunter, and I've never thought to take her fire fly hunting?

But, now that she's got me thinking about it, I don't think I've seen a firefly in years. Has anyone out there seen any lately? What area?

I know they like parks and lakes, but I haven't seen any at the parks and lakes in my area. So please, if you have seen them, be more specific, like town, neighborhood, specific park or lake.

Thanks in advance, I know she'll be so excited to see them in person.

[DaPerpKazoo]

I've never seen them in the city, but I have a friend in Corcoran (the exurb, not the neighborhood) who has them around her house all the time.

I guess I would try looking at some of the more rural county or state parks?

[moving123456]

Have you been out in a park at night lately and really watched for them? My wife was catching them last week in a small city park here in the western suburbs/lake minnetonka area.

We took a walk just as it was starting to get dark out, had a seat on some swings in a local park and fireflies started to show up soon after that.

[golfgal]

We get them in our yard. They are a little hard to see with the street lights, etc. If you drive a little out of town you will see them everywhere. I remember going to the cabin and they were everywhere.

I just saw that you are in Burnsville. If you go south on 35 and take one of the country roads off the freeway you will find them quite easily.

[Nikyma]

We drove around for four hours last night. We were in Watertown, Orono, Montrose, and a slew of other little towns in the northwest metro area. No luck so far. We'll head south tonight, hopefully we'll find some there.

[Ghengis]

They like big patches of open lawn/grass, I see them pretty much every night in our yard (rural area) between June and August as long as it isn't raining.

[srsmn]

Originally Posted by Nikyma

Okay, so we were watching TV the other night, and a commercial came on where a family was catching fireflies. My five year old turned to me and said, "Mommy, what are those bugs?" I feel like I've totally failed as a mother! This kid is the ultimate bug hunter, and I've never thought to take her fire fly hunting?

But, now that she's got me thinking about it, I don't think I've seen a firefly in years. Has anyone out there seen any lately? What area?

I know they like parks and lakes, but I haven't seen any at the parks and lakes in my area. So please, if you have seen them, be more specific, like town, neighborhood, specific park or lake.

Thanks in advance, I know she'll be so excited to see them in person.

I used to catch them every time we went down to my grandma's house in the Quad Cities, and I've seen them at my aunt's farm in the Root River area. For a long time, I assumed that it was too cold/too far north for them in the Cities, as I've never seen them here. But a friend of mine told me that they have them in Superior, so that's not it.

I think it's probably light pollution. They're probably there, but having so much man-made light around in the Cities is confusing them. Sadly, I think you'd have to go pretty far out for a firefly hunt....

[Camden Northsider]

It seems like i haven't seen a firefly in some years, either, wondering if it's that i just haven't spent as much time out in rural areas as of late or if something's going on with their population although they tend to be more predominant in Eastern sections of US.

i agree with others, maybe plan a picnic for dusk at a park that has both water and large grassier areas- there's a state park somewhere by northfield that might be good to go to (has a big forested area and some picnic shelters in grassier areas), or maybe down to the SEern corner of MN (around Winona, etc.). here's some websites that might be helpful:

https://www.mos.org/fireflywatch/range_maps (and a link on this page: https://www.mos.org/fireflywatch/view_and_explore_data)

About Firefly Habitats and Where You Can Find Fireflies Living - Firefly.org
Habitat
pollinators-welcome: Firefly

[Kebinminn]

I've seen them when camping at Carver Park. Perhaps go out on some of the trails around nine.

[Astron1000]

I was stunned a couple of weeks ago to come across a field in Oakdale that was swarming with fireflies (near Skyview Middle School). There were thousands of them just after sunset in an area perhaps a bit over an acre. The whole field twinkled. The display went on for a couple of weeks.

However, a friend of mine says that you'll see fewer and fewer as the summer goes on, since the light display is most active during mating season in late spring.

Look for them in natural prairie-like fields. They don't like short grass.