Most of the spring odonates were late this year, but such old friends as the Common Whitetails are finally beginning to resemble their common names. When Plathemis lydia first comes out of the water and emerges from larva-hood, the adolescent flier has a chunky brown "tail"—actually, its abdomen—that bears a series of light yellow triangles. There's absolutely no sign of white. But if these odes are abundant in the area—we have lots of them—you can watch, over a period of several weeks, the guys become, well, men. The females keep the characteristic abdomen pattern—the wings of each sex are different from birth—but the males develop an increasing "tail"-end whiteness that biologists refer to as pruinosity. It's a sign of maturity, and a sign that they're ready to mate and carry on the species. I don't really want to think about this yet, but it's also a sign of the passage of time. I am not, however, under any illusion that summer, which, after all, just got here, is in any danger of departure.