Blue Ghost Fireflies

It's that season again--the season of Blue Ghost Fireflies. Here in the Southern Appalachians, we are lucky to live alongside one (or two) of nature's real wonders. Both Blue Ghost Fireflies and Synchronous Fireflies can be found here and nowhere else in the world. 

Blue Ghosts are tiny insects, about the size of a rice grain. They glow gently and constantly as they hover just about the forest floor. Many people have described how their glow is almost eerie, leaving the viewer wondering whether they are really seeing something natural or perhaps imagining it all.  But thousands of people come to see if for themselves, from mid May until mid June throughout the Southern Appalachians. 

Only the male Blue Ghosts can fly. The females are flightless and remain buried in the leaf litter of the forest floor until they are ready to mate with a male. Then they climb up onto a twig or bit of decaying leaf that sticks up from the forest floor and they glow, too, waiting for a male to find them. The Blue Ghosts are visible to us during this season because they are using their glows to "talk" with each other. We are able to oversee (overhear?) that communication. 

A couple of wonderful articles have come out recently about the Blue Ghosts because so many people have become interested in the phenomenon. Perhaps because they occur nowhere else on Earth, or maybe because of the sheer beauty of their display, the Blue Ghosts have become a sight not to be missed. Raleigh's News and Observer, Charlotte's Observer, and Asheville's Citizens-Times have all run articles recently. Brevard's own Digital Media Productions is putting together a video.

Screech Owls: What is that Scary Sound?

This morning, departing my home while it was still dark (about 7:00 AM), I heard the quavering, eerie call of a screech owl nearby. Screech owls are named not for the sound they make, but because of the sound some people make—a screech—when hearing them! Like the whinny of a demonic horse, the screech owl’s call modulates from a soft cry to a quavering sob. At the college where I teach, Brevard College in western North Carolina, a panicked student once claimed in a campus-wide email that a ghost followed him as he ran to his dormitory one September night, but I reassured the student body that he heard an owl instead.

Screech owls occur throughout the eastern two-thirds of the country. In the northern part of their range and throughout the Appalachians, they are most often reddish in color, but more southern owls are usually grey. They are not as shy as many of the other owls, and even occur in urban parks. They can be found in heavily forested areas as well as more open farm fields, near homes, and in neighborhoods that have mature trees.

Screech owls feed on mice and large insects. In turn, they may become food for the larger owls. Once a great horned owl or barred owl begins to hoot, the diminutive screech owls get quiet! As cavity-nesters, screech owls normally require hollow trees in which to nest. They will, however, readily use constructed boxes. By placing a nest box for them, you can attract a pair to your property. On evenings (or mornings) of early fall, you’ll be treated to the strange song of this small owl. Like me, you might smile with the knowledge that the population of mice living in your woodshed or garage will soon decrease while your owls raise their young.

Would you like more information? Much of this post was excerpted from my book Mountain Nature: A Seasonal Natural History of the Southern Appalachians.