We've been living at the same house for about a decade. We have a tiny tiny creek in our back yard with some unmowed area around it. Our yard is chemical free and we have tons of pollinators. We saw single digit numbers of lightning bugs for nearly the time we lived here. Never more than two a night and most nights none showed up.

The past few years we've seen an uptick. Not loads, but they seem to be making a small comeback. At least in our yard.

I lived most of my life in areas where fireflies were around, but they weren't the bioluminescent type,

The house I moved to about 5 years ago is in the woods and 3 months out of the year these guys buzz around my front yard and I've even helped a few out of the house.

They never fail to bring a smile to my face.

When ten thousand fireflies

The definition of magic I go by is "affecting consciousness in accordance with will", and when you're going to watch fireflies with the thought in mind to appreciate them aesthetically, then yes, they are actual magic.

https://norse-mythology.org/concepts/magic/

Magic produces change by working directly with consciousness. Its effects often spill over into the physical world, but this occurs only indirectly. This is, in an important sense, the exact opposite of what modern science does. Science causes changes in the physical world in accordance with the “laws” of the physical world. Magic and science not only work by different means; they also work toward different ends, and, in fact, this difference in ends accounts for the difference in means. This is why practitioners of magic don’t conduct laboratory experiments, and why scientists don’t intone chants before altars inscribed with emotionally powerful symbols. The apologists for the conventions of our own age often claim that magic is a “primitive,” immature groping toward science, and now that science has arrived, magic is obsolete. But science and magic are different enterprises altogether. Neither can entirely supersede the other. Indeed, as will be discussed below, magic is as alive and well in the modern world as it’s ever been – it’s just been brilliantly disguised

Eh, what fireflies can do is kinda the base level of the bioluminescence 'skill' of the evolutionary tech tree.

https://gizmodo.com/glowing-deep-sea-squid-have-a-complex-form-of-communica-1842472534

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DE89YY7zCio

Humboldt squid skin is bioluminiscent, but roughly akin to a flexible lcd or oled screen, with many different 'pixels' capable of being set specifically.

They likely have the ability to communicate by basically displaying different patterns of different colors and brightnesses and translucency, sorta like a human walking around with a sandwich board made of lcd screens, which they can control with a phone app.

They may very well have an entire language they can convey via sequenced or at least specific patterns.

Note: No clue if you can actually trace bioluminescence in fireflies and certain cephalopods to the same common ancestor or if its completely different, independent evolutionary occurances, but my point is there are certainly more and less complex and utility granting forms of bioluminescence.

Nah, it legit is, though. Just because someone or most someones understand how something happens doesn't mean it isn't magic anymore. It just means that we have a hard magic system. We understand our magic so well that we've stopped seeing it as magical, but if you take a step back and take a look at the big picture it becomes clear that the world is magical, and everything around us is this amazing, often confusing, incredible tapestry of Wonder and awe. The world has just ground us down so much that we feel like wonder is strictly for children, that we're not allowed to feel wonder anymore. Embrace the magic. Even if you know how it works.

"I cast 200 μg Luciferin."

[Dice noises]

"Nat 15. Your abdomen glows and dims slowly and rhythmically."

Magic exists but we call it science

Saw this just the other day here...

I never lived anywhere near them, never seen a bioluminescent creature in my life despite my wish to do so.

But when I was about 6 years old, I have a weird memory of my parents driving out to the deep desert with me and we parked off some dirt road and my dad got out of the truck for maybe a half hour. My mom seemed nervous. I saw a green light at the base of a bush about 15 feet away from the vehicle, just a tiny little bright green light, solid color, middle of nowhere.

I asked my mom what it was and she said "it's a glowworm" and I asked if we could go look at it and she snapped "NO don't go outside!" and I was absolutely boggled what was going on. My dad came back, they drove out of there without a word. One of those life mysteries we all have tucked away in our memory banks. I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming, but it's getting back there in years, probably was early 80's now. (This was the Sonoran desert in winter, there are no "glow worms" out there, and no bugs generally coming out in the cold anyway. I lived there for decades, there are no bioluminescent critters there.)

Snowfall is probably one of the best sensations in nature. It's just so calming and peaceful.

Seeing how Australians react to kangaroos like they're just slightly more dangerous deer is so jarring

Fireflies is a much cooler name though.

I see beautiful and common things that people around just shoulder shrug about.

Saw a black bear mama with two cubs last month, a coyote dancing playfully the next week. This week the water lilies are starting to explode across the local swamp. In that same swamp are hundreds, if not 1,000+, endangered pitcher plants and common sundews. Even at work there are several species of songbird in the garden section and raptors patrol the skies.