The Shoreline Speaks: Notes from an Audubon Florida Coastal Steward

Nestled within the sand on the southernmost tip of Fort Myers Seashore is a bit 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 understand nature is continually talking. Not in phrases, however in calls, actions, colours, scents, and numerous indicators we regularly overlook: a nesting sea and shorebird colony.

Nature doesn’t shout. It’s a regular knock on the door of our consciousness. All the time there, not often observed, it’s the dialog that connects us.

Sitting quietly beneath the palm tree, binoculars and pocket book in hand, I grow 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 are usually not separate from this internet of communication. Relatively, we’re individuals 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 aspect. Close by, a pair of Wilson’s Plovers darts towards a handful of fiddler crabs rising from their burrows. All of the sudden, 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 communicate the identical language because the Osprey, however the message is unmistakable: Avoid our infants. Every species has its personal means 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 seashore isn’t merely a spot for recreation. It’s a community of relationships the place each organism helps keep the steadiness of the entire. The second our ft contact the sand, we grow to be a part of that dialog. The grains beneath our toes are dwelling to microscopic organisms. The bugs shifting by means of the sand grow to be meals for shorebirds, whereas the vegetation gives shelter and anchors the shoreline. Birds rely upon the fish within the water, the crabs beneath the sand, and the vegetation rooted alongside the seashore. Each a part of the ecosystem helps one other. 

Just like the seashore itself, conservation relies on relationships. It succeeds when people with completely different strengths come collectively in service of one thing larger than themselves. I’ve discovered this identical internet of connection at Audubon. Each volunteer, biologist, educator, photographer, donor, and associate contributes one thing distinctive to a shared function. No single position 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 dwelling chook is now returning to the identical earth that sustained it. It jogs my memory that we’re all fabricated from the identical matter, borrowed from the earth and, at some point, 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 prepared to hear.