They're visible in incredible numbers in our Great Smoky Mountains. But let's go back a little way. Dr. Jonathan Copeland, ethologist researcher at Georgia Southern University, heard about this remarkable feat and has been investigating. There are many kinds of fireflies in the Smokies, including some really unusual ones. We're lucky in the area, Copeland says.
People complain that the fireflies are gone.
Oh, no, Copeland says. At dusk, they go in for TV or dinner, or they sit around a campfire. After getting your eyes accustomed to the dark, you may carry a flashlight, dimmed by wrapping it in blue or red cellophane. And Copeland says these synchro-fireflies are the first ones fully documented in North America, though others have been reported. These Smokies fireflies are not the flatland variety but a mountain firefly found most often at about 2,200 feet.