Nature Connection: On The Move

The calendar says April, but looking out my window, I’m still seeing a lot of what looks like March, if not February. It’s damp and cold and still a bit dreary, though the birds are singing in spite of the still questionable spring weather.

Nature knows that it is time to be on the move, no matter what we weather-weary humans think. Migrant birds are arriving and making claims on territories all over the Cape. Ospreys are carrying nesting materials, sometimes sticks as long as their wingspan, to spruce up their nests while some are already mating. Piping plovers are peeping and dancing and cajoling hopeful partners-to-be, and even the willets and oystercatchers are making claims on their favorite beach and marsh spots.

In another few weeks the orioles and catbirds will arrive, along with everyone’s favorites, the ruby-throated hummingbirds. Herons and egrets are staking their claims as they arrive from warmer climes, and soon the terns will be here as well. It’s a busy time with a lot of movement everywhere we turn these days.

Birds are far from the only creatures on the move these days. On soggy but warm nights, the spotted salamanders, toads and frogs are roused to gather with many others of their kinds to engage in what can only be called a sort of amphibian orgy. There’s not a lot of discrimination going on, but there sure is a lot of sharing, if you catch my drift. For some species, catching the drift is how the magic happens, but I’ll leave that up to you to explore further.

Some breeds of snakes also gather in groups and mate in clusters, though some choose singular mates, or at least one at a time. I have happened upon both behaviors as a human observer, and both experiences were a bit otherworldly and cool. Watching two black racers rise into the air intertwined and totally preoccupied was something I’ll never forget, though it may be tied with watching two enormous snapping turtles mate just under the water surface of a local pond. Neither was as jaw-dropping as coming across dozens of garter snakes getting up close and personal with each other in a big ball of reptilian bliss.

Fish are on the move as well. In winter many saltwater species leave our waters to go farther south or out deeper into the ocean. Many come to our waters to spawn, and in some cases, saltwater fish head for freshwater rivers and streams that lead to ponds or lakes where they spawn en masse before heading back to their saltwater homes. Herring are our most famous anadromous fish, fish that are born in freshwater, migrate to saltwater as they mature, and return to freshwater to spawn. These footlong fish are popular for bait, as they are natural bait for many larger fish that fishermen love to catch. In the wild, huge balls of herring may be hunted by larger fish, dolphins, seals and even whales from below while diving birds attack them from above. It’s hard being a herring. 

If you visit one of our local herring runs in the next few weeks, you will see all sorts of predator activity. It amazes me every year to see any fish actually make it to the pond after the gauntlet they’ve swum through, but I guess that is the life of a herring: tough and filled with relentless challenges.

Just as the orioles and hummingbirds arrive as the nectar-producing flowers begin to bloom, so do the bigger fish and the humpback whales and osprey arrive as the herring swim into our waters. Nature is a master synchronizer, choreographing arrivals and departures that are so perfectly aligned that it can feel miraculous. 

Unfortunately, climate change exacerbated by human negligence and abuse of resources is causing a disconnect for many species that have come to depend on this synchronicity. Weather conditions have always been tricky, but these days they are almost predictably off-course in many areas, including our own.

As you visit a beach to look for whales and birds or the woods to see if any warblers have arrived earlier than expected, keep your eyes and ears open. If you haven’t been to a herring run in recent years, maybe go and see nature in action. Herring are in trouble, and although there are many efforts to save them, the herring runs full of fish we have become accustomed to may soon become a memory and a lesson in poor understanding of how ecosystems work and why biodiversity is so important. If the herring go, so will many other species that depend on them.

Spring is a good reminder that change is constant, that everything must adapt to survive. In our current environment, the environment itself is at risk and yet people are paying more attention to sales at big box stores and the stock market than they are to what is actually life-sustaining. 

Southern species are moving up our coast, and some of them are harmful to the species native to the area. Those used to seeing certain trees and birds and even beaches may have to adjust their ideas of what is normal.

I don’t know what the future will bring, but I do know the herring are running, so get out there and get a good look while you still can. If you go to Bell’s Neck in Harwich or the Stony Brook Run in Brewster when the tide is right, you may be gobsmacked by what you see. The water may be churning but the sky will be full of birds, perhaps even a few bald eagles, all out for however many fish they can stuff into their gullets.

Nature is on the move all around us, so put down those screens and get outside.