Photography: Summer Romance and Fire Flies

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This is a Lightning Bug (aka Fire Fly) perched on a leaf in my backyard right before the night shift. Here is an interesting fact: I read that the female Fire Flies sit on vegetation near the ground and wait for a flash of the tail from the male Fire Flies. Well, when the female is interested she flashes right back and the mating begins. However, the flash has to be of a distinct pattern because the females are careful not to attract a male of the wrong species. So, I imagine the divorce rate among Fire Flies are pretty low. Here's to summer love. *toast*


Photo by: Stephen Bess
Source: backyardnature.net

Comments

Geoffrey Philp said…
LOL. Great post and photo. I'd never seen a fire fly in the day.

Peace
Monday, July 20, 2009 4:13:00 AM
Jenell : BlakIzBeautyful said…
My Coco Puff is into photography so my I now pay attention to details in photos.

I love the focus in this photo. The background is hazzy and the center is clear.

What camera do you have?
Monday, July 20, 2009 10:55:00 AM
Stephen A. Bess said…
Geoffrey, it's one of those things. I caught them starting to light up just before dark. So, I move in close to get a closer look. Thanks. :)

JB-
I used a regular FinePix camera by Fuji for this. This little buddy just allowed me to get in really close before it flew away. :)
Monday, July 20, 2009 11:34:00 AM
the prisoner's wife said…
wow, you saw it during the day?

we don't get them much in LA, but when i lived in NY, i'd sit on my fire escape in bklyn and watch them burn.

beautiful

(btw: saw the poetry reading on Youtube. bravo!)
Monday, July 20, 2009 9:45:00 PM
K. Ako said…
*toast* ...nothing wrong with summer love.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:56:00 AM
Cergie said…
Hi Stephen, I had a look on your blog and decided to stop on this post : "fire fly" ? In French = "luciole" from the Latin word "lux" from which commes my true first name "Lucie". Maybe not exactly the same bug, however I used to see many in Ivory Coast, Africa where I was living as kid.
Friday, July 24, 2009 7:52:00 AM
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