You Can Virtually Watch Thousands of Fireflies Light Up the Great Smoky Mountains Tonight. Here’s How.
What a sight to see! The Great Smoky Mountains will be glowing with Fireflies!
I remember catching Fireflies as a kid, but we called them Lightening Bugs! As soon as dusk would hit, we would be outside hunting them! So magical!
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park borders North Carolina and Tennesee. It is absolutely gorgeous there. It is also the home of 19 different firefly species.
One of those being the Synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus). This is the only species of Fireflies in America that can synchronize their flashing light patterns.
The event normally takes place in late May or early June. But due to the pandemic there has been a change!
See, they have to predict the optimal mating time. Yes, you read that right….mating time.
The whole event is based on the sexy time for the Fireflies.
During the Firefly mating season, the males will flash their lights to locate the females. Then the females flash their light back and it is this beautiful display for us voyeurs.
The event is so popular that you normally have to enter a lottery to get a chance to get a ticket.
The annual firefly-viewing in-person event has been canceled by the National Parks Service due to the pandemic, but this means EVERYONE can watch the show VIRTUALLY!
Discover Life in America will be streaming the fireflies on YouTube on June 1, 2020 (TONIGHT), starting at 8:00 PM ET!
