This year, spring weather has reminded me of April through June of my sophomore year in high school — rain and unseasonable cold punctuated by short, infrequent warm spells. We endured storm after storm, a pattern that continued into July. As of this writing in late May 2013, we have had the same meteorological menu.

I don’t know about you, but I need to ease my way into summer hiking season here in Maine. Despite a winter spent in Maine’s outdoors, my legs don’t hit the month of June ready for miles and miles of through hikes. Before I get to the business of serious hiking, I like to spend my mornings and weekends on some shorter trails.

Tourist season is upon us again. On May 28, Maine hosted a visit by a Eurasian collared dove. This bird showed up at a feeder in Falmouth. It represents the first record of the species in the state of Maine.

A large pool on the Kennebec River between Solon and North Anson produces magnificent Light-Cahill hatches each June, a large, cream mayfly tied on a size 12 or 14 hook. I lean toward the size 14 choice.

The wonderful spectacle of spring migration is coming to an end with the arrival of the last warblers, thrushes and cuckoos. As usual it’s been a delightful three months of arrivals and departures.

Maine’s black-bass anglers find lots of action during most months from mid-spring to fall, but fishing peaks in the next five weeks, depending on latitude and elevation, as males defend spawning beds in the shallows.

Many predictably ask for a compromise that works on pavement as well as on light-duty forest paths — the latter say gravel roads or trails minus big rocks, deep sand, long, steep drops, etc. That info narrows the choices.

This column continues the discussion of osprey biology from my last column. I wrote about the dependence of osprey on live fish for food. Ospreys are not picky about the fish they prey upon in either salt- or freshwater environments. As long as the fish are in shallow water or within 3 feet of the surface of deeper water, they are at risk from an attack from above by a feathered menace.

Eight years ago on a Maine fly-fishing bulletin board, a young fly-fishing guide posted a comment that has stuck in my mind. He claimed that aquatic-insect hatches were so sporadic that he wondered why the events seemed important to people.