Seeing Solstices and Equinoxes Differently

     We know the solstices are on June 21 and December21, and the equinoxes are on March 21 and September 21.  We say those dates start the seasons.  But I say those dates are in the middle of each season. 
     December 21, the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, has the shortest amount of daylight of any day of the year.  I think of December 21 as being New Year's Eve, biologically speaking, and December 22 as New Year's Day.  The amount of daylight per day starts getting longer on the latter date.  One biological year ends on December 21 and another begins on December 22.
      And to me, December 21 is the middle of winter, which starts around November 7 and ends about February 7, a total of three winter months.  In the Middle Atlantic States, certain hardy flowers, such as chickweeds, snow drops and winter aconites, begin to bloom and some bird species, including snow geese and tundra swans, start migrating north by the middle of February, which, to me, is already spring.
     Spring, to me, starts during the second week in February when days have noticeably longer periods of daylight.  Certain small, permanent resident birds, including tufted titmice, house finches and song sparrows, sing on nesting territories during warm afternoons now.  And the progression of blooming flowers, migrating birds and developing leaves continues and accelerates until the second week in May, which, to me, is the end of the three months of spring and the beginning of summer.
     By the second week of May in the Mid-Atlantic States, almost all birds have migrated north to their breeding territories, tree leaves are fully developed and nature is fully engaged in reproduction and growth for the year.  And the amount of daylight continues to increase each succeeding day until June 21.  But on June 22, the summer solstice and the middle of the biological year, the amount of daylight each succeeding day begins to decrease through to December 21, the winter solstice.
     Summer each year ends in the second week of August, which is also the beginning of autumn.  And September 21 is the middle of fall.  Already several kinds of birds throughout North America, including swallows and shorebirds, are migrating south to escape the coming northern winter. Certain seeds, fruits and vegetables mature at this time.
     Autumn ends in the second week of November, which also is the beginning of winter.  Most deciduous trees have shed their leaves by now, south-bound birds are gone and winter visitors, including dark-eyed juncos, rough-legged hawks and a variety of duck species have arrived, and the weather is progressively colder.  The daylight each succeeding day is still getting shorter, until December 22, the middle of winter and biological New Year's Day when daylight starts getting longer per day.
     This has been a biological way of looking at the seasons.  Try to look at them in a different way.