Hitching a Ride, a
firefly surprised me, and then
he wanted to stay
I drove into Nashville earlier this evening, and just before I got off the freeway, a firefly flew onto the dashboard and started blinking his light. I had left my windows down in front of my house, and evidently, he decided that that was as good a place as any to await the coming sunset.
I wanted to let him out of the car, but didn't want to do so at highway speeds, as I didn't want to hurt him. Once I was on the regular roadway, I popped up the sunroof, and cracked open my window, to create a brisk cross breeze that would carry him outside.
He promptly hunkered down on the padded upright that separated my window from the windshield, as if to say, "Hell no, I won't go!"
I got him to climb aboard my finger, put my hand out the window, and still, he held on tightly.
But finally he flew off, and it was lovely to see him go, though it did occur to me to wonder if those behind me thought I was completely insane. Of course, any oldtimers may simply have thought I was using hand signals. ;-)
So Nashville's fireflies got a tiny dose of new blood tonight. And there may actually have been two of them, as at one point I thought I saw two simultaneous flashes, but as I was driving, I couldn't really check to make sure.
In any case, it was a small bit of magical interaction in an otherwise quiet and uneventful evening. And I was very happy that he was released unharmed.
I'll format this properly tomorrow, particularly in correcting the photo to show up right-side up . . . Ah, the joys of posting from my phone.
But I wanted to post it while I was thinking of it.
The photo above, taken off my back porch looking toward the woods, shows one of the first places where fireflies become active in the evenings on our place. Typically, deeper in the woods, they begin their activity even earlier.
The prettiest place to watch them, however, is from the barnyard, which is surrounded by tall trees, and watching them on a dark night flash high in the trees all around us is truly magical.
I recently re-signed up for Firefly Watch, so I'll be counting the male and female fireflies I see in our yard over a fifteen minute period, and submitting it once a week or so for scientists trying to track patterns in their populations.
This has been a joint project of the Museum of Science in Boston in partnership with Tufts University and other researchers, but as of this year it seems that Mass Audubon is taking the leadership reins from MOS. Hopefully they will continue with the same high standards.
#isleofwrite #teamgirlpowa #steemsugars #ladiesofsteemit #fireflies #nativewildlife #naturalworld #hitchhiker #evening #sunset #magic