Ozark Nature Journal — The Firefly Turn | May 31-June 6

The Ozark Nature Journal — Central Missouri Ozarks (Rolla Anchor)

Week of May 31–June 6, 2026

Fireflies are now common along creek bottoms, sheltered yards, and brushy field edges after sunset. Their return marks one of the clearest seasonal turning points in the Ozarks. June has arrived.

The hardwood canopy is fully established across much of the central Ozarks, and many woodland trails now carry a noticeably cooler feel than the surrounding fields.

Recent rainfall has kept creek levels healthy for late May. Gravel bars remain exposed in most streams, but flow is steady, and clear water still reveals chert and dolomite beneath the surface. In low ground, vegetation has thickened enough that old fence lines and stone piles are beginning to disappear into summer growth.

Across the Ozarks, fields are taking on their summer look. Grasses that sat low in April now stand waist-high in places, and the patchwork of pasture, hay ground, and unmowed margins is becoming more distinct by the week.

Evenings have settled into a familiar rhythm of tree frogs, insects, and distant whip-poor-wills.

Start Date: Sunday, May 31, 2026
Sunrise: 5:48 AM
Sunset: 8:23 PM
Daylight Length: 14 hours, 35 minutes
Daylight Gain Since Last Week: ~7 minutes
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

A warmer pattern is settling across the region. Afternoon highs should generally reach the upper 70s to low 80s, with overnight lows mostly in the upper 50s and lower 60s. Scattered thunderstorm chances remain possible at times, but no prolonged cool spell is evident. Soil moisture remains favorable for gardens and newly established transplants.

Blackberry fruit is beginning to replace blooms. Elderberry is flowering in low, moist ground. Oxeye daisy and fleabane continue expanding along roadsides and field edges.

In shaded woods, mayapple colonies remain intact, though some leaves are beginning to show the wear of late spring weather and insect feeding.

A nine-banded armadillo was observed working slowly along a wooded slope after a night of rain, turning over leaves and probing soft soil for insects. Sightings continue to become more common across portions of the Ozarks than they were a generation ago.

Fresh digging around gardens and mulch beds often reveals their presence before the animal itself is seen.

Many Ozark streams carry broad gravel bars composed largely of chert fragments. Chert forms within older limestone and dolomite layers and is far more resistant to weathering than the surrounding rock. As water slowly dissolves and erodes softer material, the harder chert remains behind.

Over thousands of years, streams transport and sort these fragments into the gravel bars that characterize many Ozark waterways. During periods of high water, larger pieces roll downstream while finer sediment washes away.

The result is one of the defining features of Ozark waterways: clear streams flowing over beds of rounded tan, gray, and reddish chert gravel. These gravel bars provide habitat for insects, shelter for small fish, and nesting areas for some birds and reptiles.

Warm-season planting is fully underway.

Direct sow:

Transplant:

Mulch becomes increasingly valuable now as daylight length and temperatures continue increasing. Watch young plantings after heavy thunderstorms, which can compact exposed soil and wash seed from shallow rows.

Milkweed patches are becoming easier to identify. Consider marking them before mowing field edges or fence rows.

• Fireflies now outnumber spring peepers after sunset.

• Blackberry fruit is beginning to replace blooms.

• Shade under mature oaks is noticeably deeper than it was two weeks ago.

• Chert gravel bars are easier to walk now that stream levels have steadied.

• The longest days of the year are only a few weeks away.

Find a creek after sunset and wait five minutes. Listen before you look.