Why Chicago Lightning Bugs Light Up One Neighborhood But Not the Next

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2016

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A listener’s nostalgia for catching lightning bugs as a kid lead her to wonder: Are there any left these days? Our experts say they’re around, just really, really fickle.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's Curious City, where we take your questions about Chicago and the region,
0:06.2	and investigate.
0:07.4	Report.
0:08.0	Explore.
0:08.9	From WBEZ.
0:13.3	Hey there, curious citizens.
0:15.1	With Firefly season in full swing, we felt now was the perfect time to rerun a story we did about the little guys last year.
0:22.2	We hope it really brightens your day. Enjoy.
0:26.2	Hi, I'm Sean Kennedy. And it's the season four lightning bugs, or fireflies, whatever you call them.
0:33.0	Our questioner, Aaron Pavlitch, uses both terms. Aaron grew up in Western Springs, southwest of the city, and has fond memories of seeing
0:40.9	lightning bugs all over her neighborhood.
0:42.7	I had a little screen bug house that I would catch them in, and usually they'll die by the next
0:48.6	day if I kept them in their bug house.
0:50.5	That was 20-odd years ago.
0:52.8	Today, Aaron lives in Glen Ellen. It's not far from where she grew up, but things seem different.
0:58.3	Now that I have kids of my own, it's something I would like them to enjoy doing, but it just doesn't seem like they're as copious as they used to be.
1:06.5	Aaron wants to know if our region's got a firefly crisis, enough that her kids will never
1:10.9	be wowed like she was.
1:13.1	For answers, Aaron and I check in with Curicity's go-to bug guy.
1:17.5	My name is Doug Terran.
1:18.6	I am chief curator of the Chicago Academy of Sciences and it's Peggy Notabart Nature Museum.
1:24.1	If Aaron says her neighborhood has few lightning bugs, Terran knows a place with plenty.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBEZ Chicago, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WBEZ Chicago and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.