Nestled within the sand on the southernmost tip of Fort Myers Seaside is just a little metropolis. Some days it bustles with exercise, whereas different days it rests in quiet tranquility. The extra time I spend right here, the extra I notice nature is continually talking. Not in phrases, however in calls, actions, colours, scents, and numerous alerts we frequently overlook: a nesting sea and shorebird colony.
Nature doesn’t shout. It’s a regular knock on the door of our consciousness. At all times there, hardly ever observed, it’s the dialog that connects us.
Sitting quietly beneath the palm tree, binoculars and pocket book in hand, I turn out to be a scholar of this choreography that pulses with exchanges we have now but to acknowledge. The longer I watch, the extra I perceive that people will not be separate from this net of communication. Reasonably, we’re contributors in it.
The dialog by no means stops. I am reminded of this nearly instantly, as my consideration is drawn to an American Oystercatcher calling loudly. Inside seconds, two others rush to its facet. Close by, a pair of Wilson’s Plovers darts towards a handful of fiddler crabs rising from their burrows. Out of the blue, a Least Tern launches into flight, joined by a number of others as they chase an Osprey from the nesting space. Their calls develop louder and extra pressing with each swoop. They do not converse the identical language because the Osprey, however the message is unmistakable: Steer clear of our infants. Every species has its personal manner of speaking, but collectively they create a dialog that retains this little metropolis functioning. Although I’m not immediately a part of the dialogue, I really feel the importance of it.
The seaside is just not merely a spot for recreation. It’s a community of relationships the place each organism helps preserve the steadiness of the entire. The second our toes contact the sand, we turn out to be a part of that dialog. The grains beneath our toes are dwelling to microscopic organisms. The bugs transferring by the sand turn out to be meals for shorebirds, whereas the vegetation offers shelter and anchors the shoreline. Birds depend upon the fish within the water, the crabs beneath the sand, and the crops rooted alongside the seaside. Each a part of the ecosystem helps one other. Just like the seaside itself, conservation will depend on relationships. It succeeds when people with completely different strengths come collectively in service of one thing higher than themselves. I’ve discovered this similar net of connection at Audubon. Each volunteer, biologist, educator, photographer, donor, and companion contributes one thing distinctive to a shared function. No single function can accomplish the mission alone. Nature doesn’t revolve round us, and it by no means has. We’re merely one voice in a a lot bigger dialog.
Because the waves crash towards the shore, a refrain of Black Skimmer barks fills the air. An amazing egret glides in, saying its arrival with a low croak. Proper earlier than I take my subsequent step, one thing catches my eye: the bones of a laughing gull. What was as soon as a residing chook is now returning to the identical earth that sustained it. It jogs my memory that we’re all manufactured from the identical matter, borrowed from the earth and, in the future, returned to it.
The birds have taught me that the planet has all the time been talking. Each name, each footprint, and each feather is a part of a dialog a lot bigger than ourselves.
The query is not whether or not nature is speaking.
The query is whether or not we’re keen to pay attention.
