If you\u2019ve been walking through Prospect Park or pausing under the trees in Fort Greene lately and thought the city was suddenly feeling… enchanted, you\u2019re not alone. New Yorkers across all five boroughs are reporting a serious uptick in the number of fireflies (a.k.a. lightning bugs) lighting up our humid summer nights and, yes, it\u2019s very real.<\/p>\n
RECOMMENDED:\u00a010 places spotted lanternfly eggs can be found in NYC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The dazzling comeback is courtesy of an unusually rainy spring. According to entomologists, the near-constant showers created ideal soggy conditions for firefly larvae, who thrive in moist soil rich with snails, slugs and other tasty morsels. \u201cThey do really well when there\u2019s a lot of rainfall,\u201d Dr. Jessica Ware, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History, told the New York Post<\/a>. \u201cThat extra moisture, that is really good for the juvenile [fireflies]\u2014the juveniles develop into adults, and those are the adults that are moving around and flashing.\u201d<\/p>\n And New York had plenty of rain to go around\u2014May alone saw precipitation on 18 days. That\u2019s helped fuel a flashier-than-usual firefly season, even if, technically, firefly populations are still on the decline overall. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily that we\u2019re seeing more,\u201d Ware clarified to the paper. \u201cIt\u2019s that we\u2019re not seeing as few.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the visual payoff has been massive. Walks at dusk have turned into accidental light shows from the Big Dipper firefly (a.k.a. Photinus pyralis), whose signature J-shaped flight pattern and soft glow have lit up social media and the city skyline alike. Reports of firefly sightings have poured in from Fort Greene<\/a>, Prospect Heights<\/a>, Green-Wood Cemetery<\/a> and even street corners in Bed-Stuy.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t let the magic fool you: Urban fireflies face real threats, from pesticides to light pollution, which can throw off their carefully choreographed mating blinks. If you want to help, experts suggest planting native flora, keeping outdoor lighting to a minimum and resisting the urge to rake every single leaf (yes, really\u2014larvae overwinter in leaf litter).<\/p>\n For now, though, it\u2019s peak firefly mating season\u2014a hormonally charged light show if there ever was one. So go ahead: Take the long way home through the park or sit on your stoop a little longer at sunset. The bugs are busy finding love, and you get a front-row seat to one of nature\u2019s most luminous displays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve been walking through Prospect Park or pausing under the trees in Fort Greene lately and thought…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10336,405,403,10337,5226,5225,5228,5227,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-52685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news-city-life","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114826020409203592","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}