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At the North Pole, temperatures reached above freezing this week, a momentous event of global significance occurring in the middle of the dark, arctic night. Down here in Chapel Hill, it reached a far less ominous but still remarkable 78 degrees today and has been almost as warm the past several days. For some species, this is just a brief warm spell such as they always take advantage of. American Toads were chorusing at dusk along Morgan Creek and Red Bats patrolling along a power line, feeding small Dipterans taking the opportunity to swarm. Other species, however, appear to be out far earlier than normal. Several Southeastern Field Crickets were heard singing along the greenway; in the 1950s, B.B. Fulton didn’t record them at least until March. More startling, I found a Box Turtle soaking in a puddle in the middle of the power line clearing. When I did my dissertation research on this species back in the 70s, the earliest I expected to see them come out from hibernation was the first week of April, safely beyond the last hard freeze. With the temperatures expected to stay warm for the next several days, I decided to leave her where she was. I left with qualms, however, about the fate of many species that will need to make adjustments to their natural periodicity in order to cope with the rapid swings in weather and climate we are now experiencing. Winter may still be coming, but so is summer; who knows which one will show up tomorrow.