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Fireflies, deception and cannibalism. It’s a tricky life in firefly land.
It was a matter of opportunity staring me in the face, that initiated the curiosity of photographing fireflies. The fireflies happened to be where we hang out in western WI. But it wasn’t until a friend spent the being captivated by the flashing bugs, saying it was the best display he’s ever seen. That started my engines. So, over the past couple years I’ve photographed the fireflies during their mating season, which seems to peak in June in our area.
Males fly above the field, using various flash patterns to impress a female who is in the grass field below. Males vastly outnumber females, so competition is intense. Females have their choice of partners, and when interested in a male, flash back immediately after the male flash sequence. However, there’s a catch. A larger firefly, called Photuris, a femme fatales, specialized in mimicking mating signals, and attracting the male, may also be in the field below. When the male descends to what he thinks is his potential mate, the larger Photuris lies in wait, and cannibalizes the smaller male.
When initially photographing the fireflies, flashing seems chaotic, at a pace hard to comprehend. The more I photograph the fireflies, the easier it is to detect the various flash patterns emitted. Some patterns are short blink, blink, blink, others are long burns. After awhile it becomes easy to spot specific fireflies.
