Creatures which glow I must search for

I use to live in Gainesville, Florida and studied fireflies in the area, even working as a lab technician employed by the Department of Entomology and Nematology for a short spell.  Dr. James E. Lloyd, that most eminent of professors who discovered aggressive mimicry, documented the deme of Photinus in North America, and described a number of new species of Photuris distinguishing their unique flash patters with the aid of a "firefly gun," gave me this position after learning about my work rearing fireflies in Alabama.  Later I also worked for IFAS and the Department of Zoology at the Unversity of Florida, followed by a position with an environmantal consulting firm. Plus I worked for a biological control company mass rearing insects for to service the poultry industry and citrus farmers.  Hence I know a little bit about fireflies and even a thing or two about turning wetlands into moonscapes.

During this period I kept Firefly Notebooks recording in significant detail firefly observations in and around Gainesville, Florida, even going on a field trip with Dr. Lloyd's entomology class which I took and can proudly say that I aced -- even discovering a new species of a very tiny colonial insect under a log!  I have posted some excerpts from my Firefly Notebooks at http://www.byteland.org/firefly/firefly_notebooks.html which may be of interest to firefly watchers.

Note that in order to be comfortable while working in the field I set up Field Station Three on the UF campus across from the Medicinal Plant Gardens and Lake Alice.  See the map at http://www.byteland.org/firefly/field_station_3.jpg  I would NOT recommend anyone do this on a college campus or other private property without prior permission and notification of the campus security or property owners.  However, I was very passionate about my firefly studies and found that setting up a field station using a large six-person tent provided an escape from a sudden down pore of drenching rain and swarms of mosquitoes, those angels of death which deliver itching bites and are vectors for a number of diseases.  Hence, it was sensible and wise to have a refuge, a sheltered tent, complete with a Coleman stove, lantern, table and cot where I could work in comfort, even a place to nap without being assaulted by the a myriad of blood sucking vampire mosquitoes that might eat one alive.

Given these exploits I am quite aware of some of the best places to watch fireflies in and around Gainesville, Florida.  One site used by Dr. Lloyd was east of town near the airport.  Also the Medicinal Plant Gardens was one of my firefly hunting grounds.  Later I moved my field station to what is now a park at Devil's Millhopper, northwest of Gainesville.  I also had the opportunity to view fireflies along the Santa Fe River before many of the best firefly watching and skinny dipping areas were commercialized and turned into campgrounds and dive shops.

Some of the best firefly watching sites are in Ocala National Forests and other state parks in central Florida and the panhandle.  Currently I recommend state parks or national forests as the best locations to observe fireflies, given these are public access areas and you won't be likely to get shot by paranoid landowners, hunters, or arrested by police for trespassing.  Certainly along rivers is good firefly hunting ground, but the many virgin forests in Florida are densely overgrown with palmettos or other vegetation.  In state parks or national forests there are usually open areas, camp grounds, nature trails or even developed, elevated wooden walkways through the palmettos or under brush.  You can watch for fireflies with relative ease, not having to worry as much about ticks or being accidentally shot by poachers.

Dr. Lloyd detailed the locations where he visited and studied Photinus in his outstanding 1966 report,  Studies on the Flash Communication System in Photinus Fireflies, which certainly makes a good baseline study and reference for firefly watchers.  For each deme of firefly Dr. Lloyd observed and recorded the following behavior:

"( 1 ) time of day active and ambient light intensity at beginning of activity, (2) ambient temperatures, (3) male flash-pattern ancl pulse length, (4) male flash intervals, (5) location of females, (6) female response delay time, (7) female flash response and pulse length."

Of course Dr. Lloyd had the advantage of a specially made electronic recording device. Without an electronic device to accurately measure female flash response and also record observations, you may be left in the dark when it comes to accurate recording of such behaviors as female flash response.  These days I use a digital stop watch to record flash patterns of male fireflies, which is much nicer than the old mechanical, spring loaded, wind up, clock style stop watch I use to carry on firefly expeditions.

I call them "expeditions" rather than "watches" because I always carefully planned my journeys and trips into the fields and forest being sure that I was equipped for any event or emergency.  You never know what you may encounter at night while hunting for creatures which glow.

Once while at July Springs along the Santa Fe River some poachers came by in the middle of the night and dynamited the springs to catch fish!  They were in pick-up trucks and were probably heavily armed with shotguns or rifles.  My location was so well hidden back in the dry scrub away from the river that they never even knew someone was watching!

On another occassion while camping along the Santa Fe River at one of my favorite sites, a pack of howling, barking hound dogs swept through my campsite in persuit of wild pigs, driving them down the river bank into an ambush. Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  I could hear the hunters in the distance, shots echoing, breaking the peace and stillness of the night with thunderous blasts.  God, was that a frightful surprise!  Indeed, one never knows what they will encounter while searching for creatures which glow.  Ah, those were the good old days!