Date: 7/7/25 3:25 pm From: 'Gail Mackiernan' via Maryland & DC Birding <mdbirding...> Subject: Re: [MDBirding] 2025 Fireflies
The display in our yard in Silver Spring is usually outstanding but this year was rather blah...
Gail Mackiernan
Sent from my iPad
> On Jul 7, 2025, at 5:43 PM, Wayne Baumgartner <whbaumga...> wrote:
>
> I was in Iowa this past week, and I would say the same thing about the ‘lightning bugs’ there — locals said that it was the most they have seen in a very long time. And, after doing many hours of night driving that week, I can say that there were more insects on the car than I have seen in a very long time, too.
>
> -Wayne Baumgartner
> Washington, DC
>
>
>> On Jul 7, 2025, at 4:46 PM, John McKitterick <john.mckitterick...> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Harry's comment about fireflies "Come dusk a huge turnout of fireflies" is what I have been experiencing in my backyard here in Columbia for the past 10 days or so. I don't remember seeing so many in the recent past, maybe not this millenium. And I have heard from others in various parts of the state that it has been a good year for lightning bugs for them, too.
>>
>> Small beacons of light in these dark times...
>>
>> --John McKitterick
>> Columbia, MD
>>
>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 3:07 PM Harry Armistead <harryarmistead...> wrote:
>>> JULY 1-5, 2025, FERRY NECK.
>>>
>>> JULY 1, 2025 TUESDAY. arrive just before the rains begin. Several fireflies, not seen previously this summer. Finally some blooms on the main rose of Sharon bush.
>>>
>>> JULY 2, WEDNESDAY. Rains began with thunder and lightning yesterday evening, totaling 2.25” before halting at noon today. In our main bathroom on the 2d floor a Horace’s duskywing (butterfly) in the wee small hours (12.42 and 1:36 A.M. but not at 3:58 A.M.), blackish, in stark contrast to the cream-colored wall.
>>>
>>> “it’s dark and it’s rainy. and the moon gives no light. my pony can’t hardy travel, Lord, this dark road tonight.” from an old Texas folksong. could describe last night, minus the pony.
>>>
>>> previous years a black rat snake, Cope’s gray tree frog, and chimney swift have been found in this bathroom, testament to how porous our house is, although seemingly it is sealed tight against the outside world. The duskywing is a welcome change from the wasps, flies, and stinkbugs we are used to seeing inside here.
>>>
>>> forgot to write much in notes the last few days, may have mixed it up some.
>>>
>>> JULY 3, THURSDAY. bald eagle 1, killdeer 1, Cope’s gray tree frog 3, bluet 1 (in the past sometimes 100+ of these damsel flies in a day), a 2.5’ northern watersnake, 4 deer (does) in the Big Field, a baby Fowler’s toad the size of a large pea. A finely-marked skink, at least 12” long, on the front porch, nice female.
>>>
>>> clear, sunny in the afternoon, 74-83, not much wind. In spite of the 2+ inch rain, not that much in the ditches or vernal pools. disappointing. late in the day many hundreds of folks at Bellevue waiting to see the Oxford fireworks. Come dusk a huge turnout of fireflies. “All the twinkling starry host” (‘Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature’) refers to the night sky but could just as well describe this evening’s firefly show.
>>>
>>> JULY 4, FRIDAY. Sunny, low humidity, light NW wind, 70-84, dead calm at sunset. As fine an early summer day as one could hope for. 1 tiger swallowtail (overdue), 3 red-spotted purples, a silver-spotted skipper.
>>>
>>> The sort of day when: “If you live, a time will come.
>>> I said if you live, your time will come.
>>> When the sun will shine
>>> And the crops will grow
>>> and you won’t think you’ll gonna have trouble no more,
>>> and if … you live … a time will come.”
>>> -Mose Allison.
>>> The words “time will come” sung with a desultory, dismissive tone.
>>>
>>> At Lucy Pt. an ad. red-headed woodpecker. At Bellevue a gray squirrel. The first tiger swallowtail in a while.
>>>
>>> Out front are perhaps 100 segments of bark from the sycamore I brought from Philadelphia (Benezet Street) and planted, perhaps in the 1980s, it’s now I’d say 50 feet high. The shedded bark fragments, many of them 3” by 12” or more. I used to climb this tree in March, get up 40 feet or more, above the level of the house, before any trees had leafed out. It provided a splendid view of the surrounding environs. Good photographic opportunities. Andrew Wyeth liked to portray sycamores.
>>>
>>> “I shall return to seek this secret place/that wears the ageless shawl of Queen Anne’s lace.” from the poem ‘Rigby’s Folly’ by Lysbeth Boyd Borie.
>>>
>>> The daylight period is getting shorter, especially in the morning.
>>>
>>> Twice this visit a killdeer goes over, a couple of hundred feet up, in full cry, heading east above the dock, as if to show that, even after what seems to be a failed breeding season, it still has the energy and spirit to carry on. I find that very affecting. Go go, Bird. You go!
>>>
>>> JULY 5, SATURDAY. sunny, 78 degrees F., calm. Leave 10:37 A.M. A red fox as we are going out the driveway.
>>>
>>> Best to all. - Harry Armistead, Bellevue and Philadelphia.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
>>> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com >>> Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html >>> ---
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
>>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<LV8PR84MB38805346D7AF21673131A63DCF4FA...> >>
>> --
>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
>> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com >> Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html >> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/CAJ_cCs2AyMRM%3Doz4Tvq2x%<2B5nwjGmi5c6Oev9tWza6hZnAVj34Q...> >
> --
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com > Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html > ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<40EF44AB-44C2-42B9-A4C2-4B37142267BF...>
--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com Unfamiliar with a hotspot mentioned on this list? Quickly locate it here - http://www.mdbirding.com/hotspot.html ---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maryland & DC Birding" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mdbirding+<unsubscribe...>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mdbirding/<AB6DA45E-0C80-4D38-BD9A-6AD6A9A4A36C...>
