Comments on: The Great Smoky Mountain synchronized fireflies http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/06/great-smoky-mountain-synchronized.html Stories, quotes and anecdotes. Wed, 15 May 2013 13:33:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Falconry Days http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/06/great-smoky-mountain-synchronized.html#comment-81313 Falconry Days Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:40:56 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/06/the-great-smoky-mountain-synchronized-fireflies/#comment-81313 Very interesting, I’m sure that those of us who spend most of our lives outdoors in the fresh air would agree!

]]> By: Cliff Leverette http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/06/great-smoky-mountain-synchronized.html#comment-267 Cliff Leverette Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:30:12 +0000 http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2009/06/the-great-smoky-mountain-synchronized-fireflies/#comment-267 The same thing happens behind my house. The woods are growing on the Natchez Trace Historic Parkway and are as protected as the Smoky Mountains are. I first noticed the lights when I went to the site of our house in April, 1997 and saw so many lights coming out of the woods that I went to take a closer look. Inside the forest were hundreds of thousands of lightening bugs all flashing at one time. They were also mainly on one level and this level was even for as far as I walked in 20 minutes. Some of the bugs uphill were near the ground while others downhill might be 10 feet off the ground. Eventually they get out of synch and they make a concerted effort to resync. As they do, suddenly a wave of lights flash like a wave of water through a lake. One wave of light after another, starting way out of my sight somewhere to the north and traveling south far out of sight in the woods. It has always been from north to south when I have seen it.
The display continues for about a week. For about a month prior to that there are plenty of “early bugs” who crawl up out of the ground, leave the woods blinking and then fly off into the meadows. The numbers increase more each night as time goes on but I never know by counting an increase in numbers when the first big night will be.

We have followed this light display by night, learning that it goes continuously north up to River Bend park, which is almost 20 miles north of our home in the woods beside the Trace. We got out of the car and looked across the river and could easily see that the synchrons were still flashing away over there, too.

I am quite happy that you get to experience that at Elkmont but I have given only one clue as to where ours are so that our woods don’t fill up to see the sight at night. I have talked to an entomologist at Mississippi State University who has traveled to Elkmont to see the fireflies. He was not amazed that it happens here and has thus far refused to drive down to see our display. Maybe its because there is no Elkmont here.

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