Saturday, July 23, 2011

Lots and Lots of Lightning

Hello everyone,

The heat wave is finally beginning to wane for now. Thank goodness. And it has been replaced by some sweet thunderstorms. Even as I type this, there is another one rolling in. I know it really isn't doing all that much to knock the temp down, but it's still a nice change of pace (though it did knock out my power a couple times last night as I was typing this).

The lightning has been phenomenal. There has been such a show over the past couple days. Yesterday morning while I was on my way to work, I saw a couple very good strikes. One actually looked like two stick figures. Besides the shape of it, there was a pinkish coloration to it too, so that really added a special effect to it.

I went to a baseball game last night and there was a lot of lightning flashing in the distance. There was at least one strike per second. It was much more exciting than the game itself. The best thing about that storm in the distance though was the fact that I got to see it build up while the sun was still up. That was very entertaining because it set up in the classic cumulonimbus shape and the setting sun painted it many colors. And I could see even more of that storm and other separate storms on the way home.

But despite all the lightning action of the storms, there was a different kind of lightning that caught my attention and took my breath away.

While driving home from the baseball game, I looked to the left and saw a field full of lightning bugs (or fireflies if that is your preferred name) flashing. There had to be a few hundred of them floating and flashing about. It was a beautiful sight. I wish I would have had my camera with me to get a photo of my own.


This is about as close as I can get to what I saw, but this isn't even close to how beautiful it was

Lightning bugs (Photuris pyralis) are amazing creatures as they float about, flashing in their endless search for a mate. Being one of the unique creatures that bioluminesces, it uses this purely to show off and attract mates. The brighter the flash, the sexier the male is. But these flashes come at a price. Brighter flashes are easier to see by predators. Only the best males are able to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation. It's natural selection at work.

Until next time,

Bug

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