Their decline has been so sad. I moved somewhere with fireflies in 2007. The first year they were everywhere. The second year less so and they were completely gone by 2010. I always tried to leave longer grassy areas for them but they were just... gone. It was so so so sad. I didn't grow up with them and that first summer was enchanted and magical.

I have great memories of walking down the road on a hot night with thousands of slowly blinking balls of light. The person who lives in that place now probably doesn't even know that fireflies are supposed to be in the area.

I haven't seen any of these bad boys in probably over a decade. They used to be all over the place.

Throughout my millennial decades they've gone from indigenous to childhood memories :(.

We used to have thousands of these in my backyard as a kid every summer. Now I rarely see them. We've done a great job at destroying our ecosystems in record time. We're so fucked

I was pretty freaked out the first time I saw fireflies while stationed in the South. At first I thought I was hallucinating. Then I wondered if I was seeing aliens or something. Finally one got close to my face and I snatched it out of the air. When I opened my hand there was a little bug sitting there blinking, and I was amazed. They're honestly the coolest creatures I've ever seen on this earth.

Lightning bugs are really cool! Where I live, people are usually surprised to find out that there are dozens of species native to the region.

A few years ago, I went on a trip to a different part of the US and they had a species of lightning bug where they all flash synchronously. Instead of flying around the yard, blinking seemingly at random like all the lightning bugs I'd ever seen up to that point, the synchronous ones crawled around in the bushes and trees and then when they flashed, they all flashed at the same time. It was super cool to see.

Another thing I've noticed about adult lightning bugs is that the populations can vary greatly from year to year around here. We might have a year or two with large numbers of them each night during the warmest parts of the year, then a year where they are few and far between.

Firefly vs lightning bug

I've always called them fireflies growing up but it seems like that's dependent on where you grew up

They were everywhere in my old home state. I have not seen them in decades now. I miss them.

I was into my 30's by the time I discovered fireflies were real. I was well aware there were bioluminescent creatures in the world but I thought fireflies just reflected light until I moved to the Midwest. They are an amazing sight when you've never seen them before.

Truly magical critters. Used to be at Gran's farm as a kid and catch em in your hands. Fields were just covered in em. Great memories.

Haven't been back in ages... I wonder how it's looking these days.

this year is a huge one for these guys in my area. walking around at dusk has been an amazing light show. i feel blessed

I love when people find out about stuff that delights them ^^

Only a few years ago, I found fireflies living near me. I never knew they existed in Europe.

Government decided to level their habitat though. They're building a wildlife rescue center, ironically.

They used to be indigenous where I lived. Now they are not. I suppose they cannot live on concrete, who would have thought...

Honestly I thought they were fictional creatures until I was about 16 and finally saw one. Never seen them again though.