Firefly Watch

The spittle bug bubbles reminded me about two other bug related things we're doing at our house.

A citizen science project that we just began is the Firefly Watch. My youngest and I have noticed that there are two kind of glowing fireflies -- one with wings and one without wings. Since the heads are the same on both, we think one is larval. You can see in the photo of its underside, that the two with wings (top photo) are different from the one without wings. The wingless blinker is also longer.

We have all good intentions to do the Lost Ladybug Project, but we don't have a place in our yard where we've consistently found them. I'll have to talk to the kids again about it.

I have also attempted The Great Sunflower Project (bee observations) for what feels like ten years, but my sunflowers always get eaten before they are large enough to be of any help. I feel unproductive and wasteful about that. I will make an effort to report my non-sunflower sighting this year.