My Tragic Fireflyless State
The flashy insects turn New York evenings into a party. Why is Oregon so deprived?
Can we talk about fireflies?
These are the winged beetles who live only a week or two but make the most of the time they’re given by mounting an illuminated extravaganza to rival any Fourth of July fireworks display, any Taylor Swift laser show. Male fireflies looking for a mate shine an ever lovin’ light on me, on you, and on everyone else who finds themselves east of the Rockies.
But they don’t shine on Oregon.
“I’m firefly-deprived,” I wailed to my husband last week on his family’s property in upstate New York. We strolled outside in the dark, listening to the songs of frogs and gazing at the hundreds of fireflies around us, their flashing as dramatic and unsettling as concert strobe lights. Turn your device up and give these froggies a listen!
Plenty of intriguing creatures populate Oregon’s warm summer evenings—wild turkeys and deer walk up and down our streets; a raccoon couple takes a romantic nightly dip in my husband’s backyard fish pond, and a fox visits in the wee hours to ensure we’ve put away all the chicken food . . . and the chickens. But I pine for fireflies in my neck of the woods. Why don’t we have them in the Pacific Northwest?
Wait. We do??
![close up of one-inch firefly with pink head and bulbous black eyes and transparent wings. close up of one-inch firefly with pink head and bulbous black eyes and transparent wings.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf6a450b-af58-4664-9d7b-a21eab5c8250_750x600.jpeg)
The Western Firefly Project has identified these bioluminescent beauties in Wyoming, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. I was feeling pretty bad about my state until I took a look at the Project’s citizen science map. Hey, isn’t that a firefly-like glow up near Astoria, Oregon?
According to an article in The Corvallis Advocate, my state boasts a couple of firefly species in Oregon—but they’re packing such dim bulbs that humans find them difficult to spot . . . possibly because people like me aren’t keen to walk in the dark without a flashlight or headlamp. (Now, who’s a dim bulb, Melissa?)
And then, I ran across this blog post from one of The Bug Chicks who found a lampyrid—a firefly—in none other than my favorite playground—Mount Pisgah Arboretum, just minutes from my house!
So we do have fireflies in Oregon. They’re just subtle, super-chill, with none of the dazzle of their Eastern counterparts.
Here’s my attempt to capture New York fireflies on video—you can hear Independence Day fireworks in the background, along with a rumble from one of the state’s enviable summer thunderstorms.
Just as I’d resigned myself to a life lived mostly without bioluminescence, however, I came across this essay by fellow Oregon author Evelyn Hess. In it, she talks about walking without a flashlight on her property near the Coast Range and discovering— wait for it—glowworms! The glowworm is yet another beetle who thinks the sun shines out of its arse. Which, basically, it does.
Oregon also has pyrosomes—bioluminescent blue-green colonies of cloned animals that wash up on the beach. In this photo, they look like the vegetarian sausages I fry up for my teenager every morning. I think I’d rather see them in the ocean.
The lesson I’ve learned is not to envy another state’s incandescent creatures, but to roam sans flashlight late at night. I must make my peace with the darkness and stay open to the possibility of Oregon’s own magic everywhere around me.
Resources
Looking for Fireflies in Oregon - The Corvallis Advocate
The Surprising Fireflies of the Western US (nature.org)
Why Don't We See Fireflies in the Western U.S.? | Smithsonian
Why you don’t see fireflies in the Northwest (kuow.org)
Firefly facts and photos (National Geographic)
A Cool Find in Oregon — The Bug Chicks
Rare, Bizarre Glowing Creatures Strand on Oregon Coast Beaches (Beach Connection)