I was ready to go to bed last night, turned out the lights, peered out the window...and saw lots of little green sparkling lights dancing over the beach. The fireflies were putting on a good show, so I decided to take the camera out and see if I could get some pictures. I did manage a few good long exposures.
It's interesting to watch the patterns of the flashes. This was discussed on the nature list, that we should learn the flash patterns of the different species. I'm just wondering where one would find the information on the flash patterns. I was thinking this would be difficult, but when you stand for a while and watch the fireflies in action, after a while you can pick out different patterns. Some are *bippitybippitybippity*, pause, repeat, others are *bip* pause *bip* pause, repeat, and still others are *bleeeeeep* pause *bleeeep* pause. A couple of these patterns are apparent in the shots.
A mass of firefly lights in a long exposure. There were about a dozen fireflies in this location.
Here are two of the patterns, the *bippitybippity* and *bip* *bip* *bip*.
One of the fellows on the astronomy forum has some wonderful shots of fireflies and star trails. I'm inspired by these, and hope that I can find a location where I could shoot something similar.
