Lightning Bugs

I remember growing up on the farm in Southeast Missouri where every summer starting this time of year, we would sit outside and watch thousands of Lightning Bugs (Firefly). The family would gather after a long day of working the farm. I remember it being a great time in my life, family being close and life was simple.  As boys would do; we would catch as many Lightning Bugs as possible and smear the glowing bodies on our faces to play GI Joe Commando. My cousins and I would divide up into teams and start hiding in the orchard or corn field with water guns, working out way around to blast the opposing team and win our game of war.
This week as we sat outside of the Little House on the Bluff, it was the first time in years that I have seen so many Lightning Bugs. It was such a wonderful sight, relaxing and memory provoking. I truly felt that I have returned to area of the country that I can call home. 

So what exactly are Lightning Bugs (Fireflies)? They are members of a particular family of the Beetle Order. The Firefly Family is technically known as the Lampyridae.

Lightning Bugs are beetles. They can't be "flies" as their name suggests because "flies" are members of the Fly Order. Glow-worms, which produce light similar to Lightning Bugs', also are beetles, but they belong to a different though closely related family, the Phengodidae. There are many Lightning Bug species

Flashing Lightning Bugs are trying to attract mates. Among most but not all species of North American Lightning Bugs, males fly about flashing while females perch on vegetation, usually near the ground. If the female sees a flasher and she's ready to mate she responds by flashing right after the male's last flash. A short flash dialogue takes place as the male flies closer and closer, and then, if all goes well, they mate.

Man, if just half the bugs we saw this week found mates, it was a happy night on the bluff here in middle Tennessee.