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Have You Seen This Strange Synchronous Firefly? - Smarter Every Day 274 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-06-20 14:34:13
Imported:
2026-06
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Hey there!  We went on a local Alabama adventure and observed a rare synchronous firefly.  This video is in the vein of "I want this video to exist and don't care about the algorithm".  Thanks for letting me think that way by supporting on Patreon by the way.  Using your support, I rented:

3 Sony A7S3s (and several lenses)

1 Canon ME20F-SH

1 Syrp Slider and Rails

I rented this gear for about a week, and shot the footage filmed this year over the course of 4 days.  Also, I thought you might want some of the photos I shot while out in the forest.  I've attached them for your enjoyment!  Most of these are very long exposures. Feel free to use them as desktop backgrounds or whatever you like!

Regards,

Destin

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Have You Seen This Strange Synchronous Firefly? - Smarter Every Day 274

Check out https://KiwiCo.com/Smarter50 to get 50% off your first month of ANY KiwiCo crate! Smarter Every Day Email List: https://www.smartereveryday.com/email-list Click here if you're interested in subscribing: http://bit.ly/Subscribe2SED ⇊ Click below for more links! ⇊ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GET SMARTER SECTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tweet Ideas to me at: http://twitter.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SmarterEveryDay Smarter Every Day on Patreon http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day On Instagram http://www.instagram.com/smartereveryday Smarter Every Day SubReddit http://www.reddit.com/r/smartereveryday Ambiance, audio and musicy things by: Gordon McGladdery https://www.ashellinthepit.com/ http://ashellinthepit.bandcamp.com/ If you feel like this video was worth your time and added value to your life, please SHARE THE VIDEO! If you REALLY liked it, feel free to pitch a few dollars Smarter Every Day by becoming a Patron. http://www.patreon.com/smartereveryday Warm Regards, Destin

Comments

Greg Strike

This is such a great idea! Pretty cool photos! I love that in some of these you can see the paths that an individual lightning bug/firefly took. In person, due to the flashing, it's hard to know if you're looking at the same bug or multiple bugs close to each other.

Dan Herman

Wow! Maybe the light relates to the Schumann resonance of 7.83 Hz?

Colin Richardson

My local research for fireflies in the UK came back with multiple articles, all stating "Their population is declining" and/or "They are not officially endangered, because they have not been assessed by the IUCN". So... ... that is a pitty..

Joe McCormack

This video right here is why I'm a patron. The visuals, Gordon's music over, the childlike wonder of your observations, and just the overall journey and story told over the course of more than a year. I genuinely love it.

Kelly Bruce

try an IR led see if they sync to that...

Matt Larson

It would be neet to try your led with a pulse similar to morse code. For example, short, short, long, and see if they can pick up that pattern.

Andrew baldwin

I remember catching them in my cousins yard when I was a kid but I haven't seen them in years around here. Really a shame. I looked it up and it seems lightning bugs have disappeared over the last 15 years in my area.

Bob and Michelle Murray

Amazing pictures Destin! Thanks for sharing. We were at our daughter’s place in Kansas City two years ago and their back trees were lit with more fireflies than I’d ever seen. It was totally awesome.

Sean Kelly

This was so cool! Brought me back to childhood

Nicholas domingo

This is awesome! I have never seen them flash that fast. Here in Michigan I see mostly slow burners.

Ralph Woodard

Okay Dustin, your next assignment is to get some string and tie some fireflies to them and really get some good close-up shots. Let me know how well the string experiment goes. 😝🤪🤒

Janet Traweek

Loved the video. We live in SW Washington state and there are no fireflies here. I grew up in TX and have seen them in multiple places east of the Rockies. They are so magical. Hope someday I can visit somewhere I can show them to my kids--at least I can show them this video! :)

Tristan Ursell

Destin -- not sure if you're into the mathy side ... this phenomena is an example of a much broader field of study called spontaneous synchronization. Look up "Kuramoto Model" and Steven Strogatz did a bunch of work on it too. It's a fairly well understood physical process, a kind of 'dynamical phase transition.' Frequently, such systems can be entrained to an external rhythm (your LEDs), as long as it's close enough to the mean of their natural rhythm. On the chemistry side, there is a fascinating set of proteins that cause the bioluminescence ... start at Luciferase enzymes. Loved the memories this brought up :) Probs my favorite episode of SED yet.

Anonymous

This is SO cool!

Clark A. (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-03 02:00 Oh man I remember seeing something about this on Derek's channel a while back. Maybe they're maybe fireflies from southeast Asia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_VPRCtiUg&t=482s
2022-06-21 14:59 Oh man I remember seeing something about this on Derek's channel a while back. Maybe they're maybe fireflies from southeast Asia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_VPRCtiUg&t=482s

Oh man I remember seeing something about this on Derek's channel a while back. Maybe they're maybe fireflies from southeast Asia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-_VPRCtiUg&t=482s

Anonymous

Those long exposures are spectacular - makes me wish we had these creatures around here.

Zach Leonard

Thank you for sharing the photos! They are excellent !

Yes THAT Tonya

Destin, YOU inspire childlike wonder and joy in every single video. Thank you for that. You make learning so much fun!

Anonymous

Destin, or whole family of five stood in driveway and watched a billion fast flashers and some synchronized firefly's in our front paddock this evening. I remember you describing the terrain they like and thinking - hey, that's our land! So I've been watching and tonight after a big rain, we got lucky! Thanks so very much!!

Mark

Thanks for the photos! Awesome video Destin, very happy to have helped you make this video exist.

Fred S

Reminds me of a time when, as a dishwasher at a posh country club, I left late at night. As far as I could see a fairway was an actual carpet of fireflies that I bet weren’t more than a foot apart. You brought back memories. That was before golf courses soaked their turfs with pesticides.

Hallejohn

Hello there, I'm 3 month late watching the video and I love it! Also the last minute, when you showed how the face detection works. Very interesting. Love that tech stuff. Have a nice time, everyone. John form Germany Edit: Thank you for the awesome pictures. They are looking beautiful.

Hallejohn

I can remember 2 times watching fireflies (Glüh-Würmchen). 1 time in Horni Hermanice (Czech Republik), in the fields, literally nowhere. 2nd time in my hometown, close to a the river Saale. Somewhat -magical- =)