The summer solstice arrives with the longest number of daylight hours. This year, it is shared by Father’s Day, on June 20. The solstice is considered mid-summer in Celtic tradition, with domestic crops planted earlier in the year and the promise of harvest ahead.
The herdsman constellation, Bootes, releases a meteor shower between June 22 and July 2, peaking on the night of June 27 for after-midnight viewing, if fog permits.
Golden grassy hillsides coincide with green evergreen shrubs like coyote brush. Many of the shrubs are dotted with bits of white foam; careful inspection will reveal a tiny green bug inside commonly known as spittle bugs. The foam protects the young nymphs from drying out in the heat. While there are no cicada eruptions here on the West Coast, the skies over Olema Marsh are full of flying insects—and they are on the menu for swallows and swifts, which may be seen especially at twilight diving and swooping as they feed. Warmer temperatures are also bringing moon jellies, clear blobs with four white half-circles, ashore on Tomales Bay. This phenomenon often occurs with sudden warm spikes, as surface waters heat up unexpectedly and jellies die off.