These are the “dog days of summer,” traditionally the hottest, muggiest part of the year. They began on July 3 and extend through Aug. 11.
Dog days are associated with Sirius, the Dog Star. In summer, Sirius rises and sets close to the same time as the sun. By late July, the star’s rising and setting is in direct conjunction with the sun. The 20 days before the conjunction and the 20 days after the conjunction are the dog days, from an ancient belief that Sirius’ heat added to the sun’s heat, creating hot, sultry weather.
Despite the heat, the dog days are a busy time for wildlife.
On coastal barrier island beaches, loggerhead sea turtle nesting season is peaking. This year’s season might set a record for the endangered creatures. So far, more than 1,400 loggerhead nests have been counted on beaches from Tybee to Cumberland islands.
In the Okefenokee and other South Georgia swamps, alligators are keeping close watch over their eggs laid between mid-June and mid-July. Abundant rain this year has refilled many wetlands that were nearly bone dry a couple of years ago.
Depending on where you are in the state, chorus, green tree, pig, carpenter and about a dozen other frog species can be heard during the evenings. Fireflies illuminate the night, though not in the high numbers as a couple of decades ago. Down, too, are bumblebee numbers.
There is no shortage, though, of dog day cicadas, whose lazy droning is heard in the heat of the day. Butterfly numbers also seem average.
Second litters of gray squirrels are being born. Young raccoons, foxes, armadillos and bobcats are leaving their dens and foraging with their mothers. In the mornings, white-tailed does cautiously bring out their fawns to feed in meadows. Bucks are sporting new velvet-covered antlers. Black bear breeding season is underway.
Young herons, egrets, ibises and other water birds are leaving their rookeries. Newly fledged ruby throated hummingbirds are coming to feeders. Most songbirds have finished their first round of nesting, and many — mockingbirds, cardinals, bluebirds, Carolina and house wrens, eastern phoebes — are raising second or even third clutches. An exception is the American goldfinch, which doesn’t start nesting until mid-July.
IN THE SKY: The moon will be full on Monday — the "Ripe Corn Moon," as the Cherokee peoples called July's full moon, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Center astronomer. Mercury is low in the east just before dawn. Venus is low in the west at dusk and sets about two hours later. Mars and Jupiter are low in the east just before dawn and will appear close to each other Monday morning. Saturn is high in the west at dusk and sets around midnight.
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