Is it Christmas or what? (house, buy, activity)

[happyappy]

Wow! There have to be HUNDREDS of fireflies in our woods!!!! We've been out on the deck watching them for the last half-hour. It is indeed some kinda show!

Tennessee has had some great surprises for us. I wonder what's next.

[CG&D93]

Every summer for about 2-3 weeks in June. The fireflies congregate in the Great Smoky Mountains at Elkmont. They put on an amazing light show that should be seen by all. It's one of those things that you should experience in life. It's one of the Wonders of the World.

There are only two places on Earth that the fireflies gather and synchronize their light. They pass out a paper program that explains the fireflies and helps you learn the difference between the males and females by their lighting patterns.

Here is an article about this exact thing. Enjoy. I highly recommend going to see it for yourself. You'll walk away shaking your head not believing that you actually saw it!

http://smokymtns.com/firefly.htm (broken link)

[happyappy]

CG&D93,

Thanks for the tip! It'll make a great outing. We've wanted to explore out that direction and this will be a great part of the experience.

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by happyappy

Wow! There have to be HUNDREDS of fireflies in our woods!!!! We've been out on the deck watching them for the last half-hour. It is indeed some kinda show!

Tennessee has had some great surprises for us. I wonder what's next.

This is one of the mamy things I miss about the south and I look forward to seeing again. Happyappy, thanks for sharing. It brings back memories of catching fireflies as a child and temporarily placing them into jars so that I could see them close up.

[happyappy]

Jguillot,

As a child growing up in Texas I remember them from around Austin and San Antonio. I don't know why it never occurred to me that Tennessee might have fireflies. None of my conversations with people included mention of them.

I’ll date myself here, but I think it’s been 46 years since I saw a firefly before the other day. We were out on the deck watching them again this evening for about half an hour, an activity we’ll continue.

Anyone have an idea of how long during the year they’re present?

[alleycat]

I used to catch fireflies as a kid too. And occasionally, one or two would get loose in the house . . . which didn't make my parents very happy when they started flickering on and off in their bedroom at night.

It seems like they go away sometime in September when it starts gets cooler.

There used to be a company that would buy fireflies to use in some kind of research. As I recall, it wasn't very much. You had to have like a 1000 fireflies to make a dollar.

[CG&D93]

Yes, they will be around for the entire summer. Usually in late September they will start to leave depending on the weather.

It is fun to sit and watch them in the evenings. My pets love them too.

alleycat - I heard about the catching & selling of fireflies too. Strange. Who would want to do that?

Don't you just love Mother Nature...

[jennie-wan]

How far south can you find them? I used to catch them as a child in Ohio. It's one of those fond memories of summer that I miss. Dallas does not have fireflies.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

TN has fireflies? I haven't seen fireflies since I spent the summer with my grandparents in Kansas in the 70's! How cool.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by HengyMama

TN has fireflies? I haven't seen fireflies since I spent the summer with my grandparents in Kansas in the 70's! How cool.

We have lots of fireflies.

By the way, if someone hasn't mentioned it already, fireflies don't bite, aren't poisonous (although they wouldn't taste very good), and are generally harmless. If you come to Tennessee and your kids want to catch fireflies, it's perfectly okay. I must have caught a million of 'em when I was a kid.