written by Leigh Ann Henion
book review by JoAnn Hackos
I’ve always wanted to see the synchronous fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The male fireflies assemble and beginning to flash until they are all flashing at exactly the same time while the females wait in the dark. It’s magical!
From her experience with synchronous fireflies in the National Park, Henion discovers them in her own backyard nearby.
The same phenomena occur in Japan, where fireflies are greatly admired. We have a few areas with fireflies in Colorado but not the number I grew up with in New Jersey. Who else remembers putting a firefly in a jar as a night light? I also received a gift from a Japanese colleague of four wood panels painted by her father. Only after I set them up at home did I recognize the firefly featured in one of the panels.
Henion moves from fireflies to salamanders. You may have already heard about the people who meet to help salamanders migrate across roads in the spring. After spending the winter underground, they emerge for a few nights to search for ephemeral pools for breed. And, of course, they cross roads, where far too many are smashed under car tires.
People show up during the migration to keep the salamanders safe by moving them across the roads. In some areas, culverts are being built so that the salamanders can travel under the road and avoid the vehicles. Henion follows the male salamanders to the ephemeral pools in search of the females’ laying eggs. When she finds them, she turns off her light, the beginning of her quest to find creatures that need the dark.
Walking in complete darkness seems to me to be traumatic, but Henion is able to find guides who offer unique experiences of a dark world. With Tal as a guide, she finds her first foxfire species, called bitter oyster. When she touches the fruiting body, her hand is “encrusted with tiny jewels alight.”
Henion learns about moon gardens where plants are meant to be enjoyed at night. The best-known moon garden is located outside of Thomas Edison’s laboratory in Florida. Moon gardens focus on flowers that only bloom at night, attracting pollinators like moths and bats. Henion discovers that she has been living in the middle of a moon garden. Downhill from her house she discovers field of primrose that bloom at night.
As a species, we have lost the dark in our world. We are surrounded by a plethora of lights. Street lights, building lights, home lights, immense collections of heavy-duty lights at stadiums and public buildings. We carry lighted phones everywhere to interrupt the dark. Henion believes that we must relearn to love darkness, turning the lights down to reveal “wonders that are, in daylight, unimaginable.” I think I’m going to try it. It’s pretty dark at my home except for the cars going by, but there are fewer at night, and I don’t have much outdoor lighting. Perhaps I’ll find something new.