There was meaning behind the sight of a lightning bug drifting lazily across the evening sky.
It was a sign of better thing to come.
Throughout March we anxiously await the first hints of spring to tell us that winter’s long, cold grip has finally started to ease.
Peepers calling from a pond.
Robins searching for worms.
A gobbler’s call reverberating through a hollow.
Those are all signs of spring that I look, and listen for each year.
But what about signs of summer? For as pleasant as spring is, shouldn’t we welcome those clues from nature that things are about to get even better?
They’re out there, and just as welcome as the springtime reminders.
Blooms of wild blue phlox growing along a rural dirt road.
Recently hatched turkey poults following their mother through a hayfield, pecking insects from the grass.
A young fawn curled up in the ferns, deep in the shade of the forest.
Dragonflies emerging out of the water in a secluded swamp, ready to patrol the skies.
The signs of summer are often taken for granted because they don’t necessarily represent the passing of a season that we dread — winter. No one is as anxious to see spring pass as they are winter, so perhaps the different sights, sounds and smells that come with summer are overlooked.
But they shouldn’t be. The signs of summer are just as vital in nature as those of spring.
During the summer, the forest canopy is lush, shading the ground below and offering a respite from the heat.
Succulent new growth sparked by the summer heat allows deer and other wildlife to begin to fatten up again after a long winter.
For as much as spring is about a rekindling of life, summer is as well.
In June you may find a snapping turtle laying its eggs in loose soil where they will incubate under the hot sun.
The nests of bass and panfish begin to overflow with fry, serving as a crucial link in the aquatic food chain and replenishing populations.
And bird nests are flush with activity as tireless mothers work endlessly to feed demanding young.
Still, there are signs of summer that serve no other purpose than a chance to relax and unwind.
Hikers enjoying the shaded trails of a state park.
A jonboat floating on the mirror-like surface of a farm pond while anglers cast for bass.
A hunter Spending an afternoon in a hay field, waiting for a woodchuck to rise up from the grass.
Hearing the buzz of a hummingbird as it makes countless trips to a nectar-filled feeder.
Summer is all about relaxation. Taking it easy.
Summer is about sunrises.
Sunsets.
And yes, sunburn.
While the signs of summer offer plenty of sights and sounds, the smells are just as plentiful.
The fragrant blooming flowers of a honeysuckle growing in the bright sunlight along the edge of a field.
The sweet aroma of fresh cut hay curing in the sun.
The pungent odor of stagnant water in a beaver pond as it warms with the longer days.
And like every season, not all of the signs of summer are welcome.
Pollen and allergies.
Hornet’s nests.
Mosquitoes and flies.
Heat and drought.
But in the end, I would take all of those things over the signs of winter — snow, cold, ice and slush to name a few.
It won’t be long before the signs of summer give way to signs of fall, but why rush things?
After the hard winter that wildlife, and us, endured, it’s time to enjoy a few months of easy living in nature and appreciate the signs of summer.
