April 24 is Firefly Day!

To get us all in the mood to celebrate the start of Firefly season, check out Owl City’s Fireflies music video.

The Museum of Science, Boston, kicks off each year of its Firefly Watch citizen science project with a day-long celebration in honor of everyone’s favorite insect and the volunteers who help monitor their populace so researchers can learn more about these fascinating little buggers. This year, the official Firefly Watch season starts on April 24th!

If you are in the Boston, MA, area, visit the Museum of Science and enjoy special presentations from firefly scientists and a host of children’s activities. No worries if you can’t make it to the Museum. Sci4Cits has partnered with the Museum of Science to present a contest! Between now and May 7th, create a Sci4Cits member blog (from the homepage, click on the Member Blog tab, then sign-in, to  get started) and post a picture, drawing, or video of a firefly–or any interpretation of a firefly–with a creative caption of your choosing and you will be entered into a random drawing. Five winners will receive a Museum of Science T-shirt AND have their blog post  featured on the homepage of ScienceForCitizens.net.

Think it’s too early to spot a Firefly? Not so! Here’s a member blog post from Don Salvatore, the creator of the Firefly Watch, in which he describes a daylight, cold-weather tolerant, Firefly species!

Good luck. If you have any questions, just email us at info@scienceforcitizens.net and we’ll help you get started with your very own Member Blog post.

Categories: Citizen Science, Contest, Insects

Tags: ,

About the Author

Darlene Cavalier

Darlene Cavalier

Darlene Cavalier is a professor of practice at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society and a Senior Global Futures Scientist, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at ASU. Professor Cavalier is the founder of SciStarter (a popular citizen science portal and research platform connecting millions of people to real science they can do), founder of Science Cheerleaders (a non profit organization comprised of current and former NFL, NBA and college cheerleaders pursuing STEM careers), cofounder of ECAST: Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology and cofounder of ScienceNearMe.org. She is a founding board member of the Citizen Science Association, an advisor and Fellow at National Geographic, a member of the EPA's National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, appointed to the National Academy of Sciences "Designing Citizen Science to Support Science Learning" committee and named cochair of America 250's Innovation, Science, and Entrepreneurism Advisory Council. She is the co-editor of "The Rightful Place of Science: Citizen Science," author of "The Science of Cheerleading," and co-author of the Field Guide to Citizen Science (Timber Press). Recently, ASU President Michael Crow awarded Cavalier and her team the prestigious Medal for Social Embeddedness.