For wildlife, it is a time for homes and families.
Chorus frogs emerge from winter chambers to turn quiet ponds into opera houses.
Spotted fawns step quietly after their mothers. Lark buntings spiral up in the prairie sky. Mating snakes lie entwined in a tangle of serpentine bodies. Fox kits pounce and tumble, attacking bones, scraps of fur, and each other. Mountain goat kids gambol and play. . .