Even the insect world isn't spared from competition for the best habitats, and to succeed, bugs have to be clever.

"The first butterflies are these clever little creatures that actually emerged last summer already," explained entomologist Mati Martin. "There are a lot of insects, but few habitats, so they have to find a way to be first. So they go out, find a sheltered spot somewhere and stay put there until the following spring."

Fluctuations in temperature don't harm butterflies. Food, however, is a somewhat trickier issue. Warmer weather may have enticed the butterflies out already, but in Estonia, flowers still have yet to bloom. As a result, they have to make do with tree sap.

"This year, they're around a week earlier than previously known earliest recorded findings," Martin noted. "Typically, the first butterflies are spotted around mid-March, but this year, they were early indeed."

According to Estonian folk beliefs, what type of butterfly you see first in spring foretells what kind of summer you will have: a yellow brimstone butterfly is said to mean a warm, sunny summer; a multicolored butterfly, a colorful and eventful summer; a white butterfly, a difficult summer; a black butterfly, a sad one.

Martin added that there is, of course, no real basis for such predictions, but nonetheless gave a word of advice to those who do believe.

"If you head into the forest a little later [in spring], you'll find a butterfly known as the mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) — black with pale edges along its wings — and by that analogy, one might say that the future doesn't look all too bright," he warned. "So it's worth walking in the forest sooner, to spot those butterflies that predict more positive things first."

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