An old cold-weather friend
Last year, I had the wonderful experience of talking to the "lightning bug lady," a.k.a. Lynn Frierson Faust, about her then-new field guide, Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs, and in the course of a fascinating conversation, she encouraged me to be on the lookout for a member of the Lampyrid beetle clan called the Winter Firefly. Ellychnia corrusca is an oddball, in that it carries no light and it's active in the cold weather. Before Lynn "schooled" me, I no doubt would have missed seeing these quite common insects that seem to delight in haunting the tree bark, but now that I'm among the cognoscenti, well, I love to spend November nights combing the oaks for these lightning-less bugs. This is their time and I'm doing my part recording their presence.