In the predawn light yesterday, the moon still was high in the gray-blue sky, crows were noisy, and the air was soft with warm humidity. At the same hour only a week ago, the sun was rising across Edgartown harbor beyond Chappaquiddick. But yesterday was another reminder that the days are drawing in even as summer is at its height on the Vineyard.

It's a moment that has its own faint echo of sadness, of rue or nostalgia, as the later sunrises and earlier sunsets send their unmistakable signals. But there's no time to dwell on loss that is yet to be, not when it's still warm and light before six o'clock in the morning and one flock of birds is still singing competitively with a rival flock in the next tree.

Illumination Night, the Agricultural Fair, the fireworks in Oak Bluffs — so much summer is still ahead. We enjoy it all the more in those early morning hours when we are reminded that the season is passing.