Thank you to everyone who came out and visited and volunteered at the Firefly Sanctuary this summer!

We welcomed over 700 visitors from 6 states and 34 cities in Connecticut, including groups from Yale University, the University of Michigan Fairfield County Alumni Club, the New Canaan Library, and the Mark Twain Library.

Check out this season by numbers below – and we look forward to seeing you again next summer for the 2025 Firefly Season!

Registration for the 2025 Firefly Season will not open until late Spring 2025.

A painting of a firefly meadow by Bill McDonald

• The New Canaan Land Trust and our firefly neighbors Bill and Mary-Ellen McDonald were featured in the New York Times article “A Summer Spectacle Where Fireflies Are the Guiding Light.” If you don’t have a New York Times subscription, you can view a PDF of the article here.
• Learn more about Firefly Conservation and the Firefly Sanctuaries. Visit Bill McDonald’s website, FireflyConservation.org, which features his Conservation Handbook and photos, paintings, and videos of fireflies and their habitats. You can read more about how Bill raises fireflies in this article.
• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. You can watch their videos on firefly conservation on their YouTube page.
• Biologist Sara Lewis came and spoke at the New Canaan Library on May 16, 2024. She is a biologist and professor emerita at Tufts who has spent the past thirty years studying firefly behavior, ecology, and evolution. She currently coordinates global firefly conservation efforts as co-chair of the IUCN Firefly Specialist Group. In addition to writing numerous scientific articles, Prof. Lewis has given a TED talk and has written popular articles for Scientific American, Undark, CNN, The Guardian, and National Wildlife. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and BBC, along with numerous radio shows and podcasts. She is also the author of Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies, an entertaining and highly accessible journey into their luminous lives.