I had wondered why we always seemed to have some fireflies here and it turned out my hatred of raking and leaving the leaves under the bushes helped a lot!

Source? :(

Please I need to know!

Wikipedia says the species near me (southern Ontario) are of Least Concern for extinction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photuris_lucicrescens

The dad then joins his son laying on the floor and crying

This is a wild concept to me. I see hundreds if not thousands every night in the summer.

I convinced my inlaws to stop bagging or raking their leaves a few years ago, and they're everywhere now. Not as many as if the whole neighborhood has done it, but more than when I met them.

I miss seeing these everywhere in the summer as a kid. Guess I just aged myself lol, but I did see some in the park last night. Nowhere near as many as years ago though.

I've seen them once in my life, in Smoky Mountains, about 10 years ago. It was pretty much spiritual experience. The darkness came alive. I cried when I saw their luciferase smeared over windshield and glowing long after the creature was dead. I knew lots of lore about them, saw them in mass culture - never realizing I never saw one myself, even though I take care to notice all living things around, from bacteria and yeast to mycchorizal networks.

I live in Europe.

[email protected]

Alexa, play Owl City - Fireflies

More seriously, I'm pleased to see I'm not the only person who views this as a terrible loss.