Prepare your feeders as hummingbirds begin to arrive for summer

Perchance the beginning of summer may be dated from the fully formed leaves, when dense shade begins. I will see.

— Henry David Thoreau, Journal, May 20, 1852

The moon and stars The fourth week of late spring

The Warbler Migration Moon wanes throughout the week, entering its final quarter at 1:43 p.m. Sunday. Rising in the middle of the night and setting late in the morning this darkening moon passes overhead near dawn.

As the stars of Leo move off to the west by 10 p.m. at night, the likelihood of frost diminishes sharply, and tender bedding plants, tomatoes and peppers can be set out — as long as you are prepared to protect them on cooler nights.

Weather trends

The days surrounding today’s cool front are some of the most turbulent of May, often marked by rain, tornadoes and high winds. Today’s weather system also brings the threat of frost to the northern tier of states, but it typically spares tomatoes and eggplant below the 40th parallel. And the days following Tuesday’s front are often unseasonably cold. Even though more than half of May 25-26 are in the 70s or 80s, a full 45% are not.

Zeitgebers: Events in nature that tell the time of year

When hummingbirds arrive at your feeders, look for thrushes and scarlet tanagers to arrive, too, and when you see strawberries coming into full bloom, wild cucumber will be sprouting along the rivers.

Summer phlox are almost 2 feet tall as catbirds arrive in the bushes. And when azaleas lose their petals, morel season is about over for the year, and swallowtail butterflies come looking for bleeding heart flowers. Cricket song grows louder, and the earliest fireflies flicker in the lawn.

In the field and garden

When the canopy of leaves is complete, then flea beetles attack beet greens in your garden. Aphids multiply on heliopsis. Damselflies and dragonflies hunt the ponds. Leafhoppers, corn borers and armyworms assault the crops. Flies are bothering the cattle, and ticks roam the brambles.

When you see mayflies by the water, spitbugs will be making their spittle-like shelters in the parsnips, and the first cut of hay will be underway.

Chives bloom in the garden and lilacs reach full flower; that’s when crappie fishing peaks in the shallows. When wood sorrel blossoms in the garden, hunt for rare, medicinal golden seal blooming in the woods.

The Strawberry Rains (a late-May rainy period) can increase the risk of internal parasites. Make use of stool samples to check for worms.

Consider self-sufficiency in easy things like garlic, wild black raspberries, horseradish, asparagus, chives, rosemary, thyme and rhubarb. Add something every year.

Many farm pond fish spawn when the water temperature reaches 65 degrees. Add tilapia or koi to increase options for sales and food.

Gradually rising temperatures may have an effect on the amount of food your livestock (and children) need. Metabolic rate rises with the thermometer.

Around the time that locust flowers fall, look for powdery mildew in the wheat. Then check the straw bedding of your livestock. Keep it clean and dry.

Mind and body

The S.A.D. Index (which measures the forces thought to be associated with seasonal affective disorder on a scale from 1 to 100) moves into the harmless teens this week, reaching 15 by May 22. After that, it fluctuates, but only into the 20s.

Journal

May 23, 2021: In the woods along the river at around 3:00 in the afternoon, Jill, my nephew John and I went looking for Brood X of the 17-year cicadas.

It was the anniversary of my walk at the same spot on the same day in 2004. That year, the magicadas had been spotted in town on the 18th and 21st, and my own visit had been rewarded by my first real close encounter with those magical insects that allowed me to hold them and pet their wings.

This year, the creatures were a bit more elusive. Soon, however, John found the first exoskeleton on a resting leaf well away from the road, and so we knew that the first live insects were somewhere in the area. After two more exoskeletons, we found our first live 17-year cicada resting on a sweet Cicely leaf. It evaded my attempt to pick it up and dropped into the undergrowth. The next three, however, were more cooperative, and we were able to hold and photograph them. In addition, John saw a tiger swallowtail and a Polygonia butterfly, a bonus in this summer of a butterfly watch.

(The Brood X sang until June 17th in both 1987 and 2004. Then they disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived. The last remnants of Brood X fell silent on June 22 in 2021.)