In the past couple weeks one tiny green light has flitted around my yard in the dark hours. The cheery twinkle never fails to make me smile and brings back memories of laying in a field and watching their aerial ballet overhead.

Last night I spent a few minutes trying to photograph my glowing friend. A relatively dull looking individual at first glance…

My Lightning Beetle

…but, man, is he spectacular when he lets his little light shine!

Note: I did not try to identify the specific species from my less than stellar photograph as there are 36 firefly or lightning bug species in Texas. Technically, it would be more appropriate to refer to these creatures as lightning beetles (since they aren’t true bugs nor flies).

“Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.”
―Robert Frost

Moon Jelly, Rockport Beach, Texas August 2019

I found a marine version of a four-leaf clover on the beach yesterday, a Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita). While this is not a traditional symbol of good luck the pretty pink loops look enough like a clover to me. Though perhaps this is an entirely different kind of luck as the loops are actually part of the reproductive system (wink, wink).

A recent study found that the swarms of Moon Jellies we find beached are actually correlated to the lunar cycle. The masses typically peak a week after a full moon, though no explanation was provided. These brainless blobs have been undulating around the world’s oceans for over 500 million years. Clearly, they are tough little survivors.