Don't squish that (lightning) bug!

It's almost the fourth of July, and time for fireworks. My neighbors across the  back meadow have a big party every fourth, ending with with a spectacular amateur fireworks show, but I'm in bed by the time they light the fuses.
I don't mind, because I've got fireflies. Wow, do I have fireflies! When we moved here twenty years ago I knew the hayfield out back was a good thing. I thought that was because it was a privacy buffer between us and neighboring houses. We'd moved from the city, and craved privacy.
But the field has been so much more. It is a factory for producing life in all forms, from insects to deer, and we get to watch it all from our patio. The lightning bugs (also known as fireflies) are spectacular every year, with hundreds displaying across the field and in our yard from June through September, peaking right around the fourth. I wish I could capture the display on camera, but I'm not tech savvy enough to do a long enough exposure.
I looked up some details on the fireflies of New England, and learned a lot. Here's a link to one of the posts I read:http://uconnladybug.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/in-appreciation-of-fireflies/.
One of the most important things I learned is that all the species native to my area are carnivores, and that their grubs hunt and eat other grubs and earthworms under our feet in the soil, some for up to two years before hatching into the beetles we call fireflies. As adults all they care about is sex, and they use their glowing tails to attract a mate (except for the sneaky species that eat other lightning bugs by pretending to be mates...).
I wander the garden morning and night this time of year, harvesting crops and squishing insect pests, including Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles and potato bugs (also a beetle). But I always pause before squishing an unknown beetle, tilt my head and look under it's body. If it's back end is pale yellow, it's one of the several species of local lightning bugs, and I say hi and let it be.  Usually the bug will ignore me, unlike the sharp-eyed cucumber beetles, which often drop into the leaf litter before I can squish them. Lightning bugs are distasteful to many predators, and so spend their days unworried,  resting and waiting for the night's show. My pesticide free garden, combined with the field of tall grass beyond, make a perfect place to rest safe from lawnmowers and poison sprays.

Here's a firefly I caught napping on the Jerusalem Artichokes yesterday. I'll see him and his buddies at dusk on the fourth, celebrating their right to light up the night.