How to Keep Fireflies Shining Bright

It’s time to go outside and look for fireflies! With the arrival of summer, they are beginning to glow and blink, delighting fans of all ages.

Here are a few ways you can help them keep on shining for many summers to come:

REDUCE LIGHT POLLUTION

Fireflies, also called Lightning Bugs, flash to find a mate. They need darkness so their love signals can be seen. Turn off your yard lights or place them on a motion sensor.

You can also use yellow LED “bug lights” for outdoor lighting; they are yellow bulbs that light in wavelengths less attractive to nocturnal insects. This helps insects in general spend more time feeding or searching for mates, rather than hanging out by your porch light.

WELCOME SOME WILD IN YOUR YARD

Lightning Bugs are actually beetles that spend most of their life in leaf litter, under logs, or in other moist habitats. Their larvae feed on snails, slugs, worms, and other invertebrates.  Leave some natural areas with fallen branches and logs. These provide essential habitat for female fireflies to lay their eggs.

LEAVE THE LEAVES

Let autumn leaves lie to provide cozy winter burrows for fireflies as well as butterflies, bees, and even frogs and skinks.

PRESERVE SOME MOISTURE

Firefly larvae flourish in damp environments. Avoid draining or filling in wet areas on your property. Embrace them as natural rain gardens.

PLANT FOR POLLINATORS

Fireflies are pollinators! Include a variety of nectar- and pollen-rich plants in your garden to support fireflies and other beneficial insects like bees, butterflies and moths.

MINIMIZE PESTICIDE USE IN YOUR LANDSCAPE

Mosquito fogging doesn’t just kill adult mosquitoes, it kills the other insects in your yard too, including Lightning Bugs.

Here's to a summer full of bright lights dancing in your backyard on summer nights!

— Headwaters MG Nanette O’Hara based on information from the University of Georgia’s Center for Urban Agriculture