This was my 4th year of volunteering at Firefly Nights at Blue Spring State Park, and my 2nd year of perfect attendance!
During this year’s monthlong nightly fundraiser event, we raised even more funds than past years for the Blue Spring Friends group, but the highlight for me is always the insect education I get to do!
Roughly 4,000 people attended my Firefly Chats throughout the month, and I educated countless others out in the firefly habitat once the sun set.
It was also my first year participating in this event as an officer for the Friends group, which brought a whole new set of responsibilities, challenges, and learning experiences!
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do fulfilling things like this while working alongside all the passionate volunteers and rangers who helped make this event so successful!
It was such an honor to participate in this turtle survey last month by assisting at the education station.
I had a great time learning about how and why turtle surveys are conducted, and it was a treat to be able to pass on that information to park visitors:
These surveys at Wekiwa Springs State Park began in 2000 and are a great way to learn about the health of freshwater turtles and the overall ecosystem.
During this year’s 2-day survey, one of the “recaptures” was a turtle that had first been captured and tagged in 2000!
Recaptured turtles are measured and weighed so that this can be compared to past data.
Measurements are taken on first-time captures, who are also given a PIT tag so they can be easily identified in the future.
The PIT tag is the primary identification method. Each turtle is also given a secondary identification by either notching the shell in unique locations or (for softshell turtles) tattooing a unique number on the underside.
At the end of the day, all the turtles are released back into the part of the waterway where they were found!
This year’s manatee season came and went in the blink of an eye.
This was my 4th year leading these field trips at Blue Spring, and I still have so much fun teaching the school groups about manatees!
My favorite moment of this year was the morning that I got to teach my classes alongside one of the manatee releases. My students sat on the ground next to the release ramp, and as the researchers carried each manatee by them, I had the kids say goodbye and good luck to them!
At one point many years back, I had looked up whether Florida had fireflies. I found an article that listed some of the places around the state where they could be seen. One of the locations was Blue Spring State Park, although I eventually forgot that information and didn’t remember it even after starting my volunteer position at Blue Spring in the fall of 2022.
It was such a pleasant surprise to learn several months later that I would have an opportunity to help with Blue Spring’s annual firefly event!
2023 Firefly Nights
On my first year, the main available roles just included operations—being present around the park and making sure guests followed guidelines. It was great to be a part of it and to see fireflies in Florida for the first time!
2024 Firefly Nights
Last year, the park expanded their offerings, and I got to help put together the educational program about fireflies.
I did some research to create a firefly anatomy and life cycle poster and put together the talking points for our firefly presentations, and I had a great time presenting the firefly talk throughout the season!
Some of the resources I used were:
Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs book by Lynn Frierson Faust
We also received a visit from a firefly biologist from the Xerces Society, and it was great to learn from him and tag along with him for some firefly field work!
2025 Firefly Nights
This was a huge year for firefly nights!
This annual event is the largest fundraising event for the “Friends of Blue Spring State Park” group, which raises money that gets to stay at our park rather than going up to Tallahassee to be distributed among all the FL state parks. The fact that we were able to run it for more than a month meant that it raised even more funds than ever before!
The event ran from March 14-April 13, and other than the 3rd night which was cancelled due to weather, I attended every single night, which means that I was able to be more involved than ever before, and I got a firsthand view of the firefly activity over a month.
Just like last year, I enjoyed giving many of the firefly presentations. Click here or watch below if you’d like to see my final firefly talk of the season!
I also assisted with park operations, helping the volunteer in charge sweep guests off the trails and close down the park at the end of each night, and then taking over from him for the last few weeks of the event after he returned north for the year. (I got a great feel for event coordination and am hoping some of the lessons I learned can help streamline this event and others in the future!)
Another offering that I was able to provide this year was a firefly-themed nature journaling program. Although we had a relatively small turnout on the dates that we offered it, the participants who did come created some really wonderful work!
(The left side of this journal entry was just an example page I made to show to participants, and the right side was a tracker I made of the firefly activity from this season, using our ratings from each night on a scale of 0-5.)
In addition to brushing up on the materials from last year, I also read the book Silent Sparks by Sara Lewis and acquired Eric Carle’s The Very Lonely Firefly, which was a hit with some of the kids who arrived to the talks early.
My month of fireflies ended up being very exhausting (trying to juggle 28 hours a week at Blue Spring with my new job and other freelance and volunteer projects I’d committed to–along with apartment hunting and moving into a new place!), but it was so incredibly rewarding.
While I didn’t think to keep track of my total audience numbers throughout the whole event, I did record that during the last few weeks of the event, I had several thousand people come to my firefly talks, which makes me feel like the message of insect conservation had such a far reach!
My favorite moments were when I was walking around in the dark as the fireflies flashed all around and I overheard guests musing on facts they’d learned from my talk. It was so great to know that I had made a difference in how they understood these amazing insects!
If you haven’t experienced fireflies in Florida, I would highly encourage you to attend next year’s firefly nights at Blue Spring State Park!
As of April 14, 2025, my new website is live! My plan is to write blog posts about my ecological, educational, and artistic experiences.
This year, I’ve been breaking free from being tethered to my devices, so although I think it would be nice to write a post or 2 each week, I’m not holding myself to any strict schedule and plan to just update this website when I am not too busy living life in the real world!
(The cover photo for this post is a turtle on an alligator’s head that I saw at work this morning. I love my job!)
Ecology Ellie 