May Sweetness
Look to the sky for lots of lights, buzzing, and action this month
Happy first full week of May! Everything is alive and vibrant!
Here are three events to watch for, two quotes for the season, and one grounding activity to get you slowing down in the month ahead.
Three Events to Celebrate this Month
1. The third in a series of "micro” full moons
The full moon in May is called the Flower Moon. This year it occurs on the night of May 12-13. The name, as you might surmise, is connected to the floral abundance that marks this time of year.
This month’s moon is also a “micromoon,” which means it will appear smaller and a bit dimmer than usual. Micromoons occur when full moons coincide with a point in the orbit farthest form the Earth. This moon completes the third in a series of micromoons that began in March and will end this month.
2. It’s bee swarm season.
If you are an insect lover, there’s plenty of bug-themed action to delight in this time of year, including the dramatic (but largely harmless) appearance of bee swarms in the late spring.
Essentially, a bee swarm is a group of honey bees that leave their hive to start a new colony. Swarming is their natural way to expand and reproduce a colony. Swarming usually occurs in sometime between April and June.
A swarm will appear when a colony’s population has increased and it needs more space. Bees dive and fly around in a cluster you might see on a tree limb, shrub, or any other suitable space. As they swarm the scouting bees search for a new nest sight. Then the cluster will break up to fly to it.
Swarms will remain in their place anywhere from an hour to a few days - and while they may seem alarming, people need not be frightened because swarms are not aggressive. Nonetheless, if you see a swarm, leave them be.
3. Firefly season begins in late May.
The luckiest of entomophiles are about to enter a magical season of dazzling summer night skies. I’m talking about those who live in regions where fireflies thrive, which in the US is east of the Rocky Mountains.
Fireflies (also known as lightning bugs) are beetles that thrive in warm and humid conditions. After a season of hibernating underground or in sheltered locations like leaf litter emerge. In the early evenings, they’ll be seen flashing their bioluminescent light attract mates.
These lights are their “language of love” and come in different rhythms of call and response. There are more than 2,000 species of firefly worldwide with distinctive patterns. The video below shows a synchronous species found in the Appalachian mountains.
Two Quotes for May
1.
There’s a childlike wonder that seems to go hand in hand with all the buzzing sounds and sights of summer, as author Meagan Church suggests in The Last Carolina Girl.
“But now I wanted nothing more than to be the girl so free that fireflies shined as her night-lights, cicadas sang her symphonies, and the forest stood as her cathedral.”
2.
And here’s a delightful quote about bees from Ray Bradbury, from Dandelion Wine.
“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
Slowing Down: Try this for the month of May
Bees and fireflies aren’t the only bugs becoming more active this month.
Spend some time this month looking closely at the trees and plants for any kinds of insect activity.
Consider exploring a meadow for ladybugs, butterflies and caterpillars, or gardens for creatures in the earth. Or simply take some time to look closely at an ant colony in a sidewalk crack.
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