The advent of spring begins on a flutter of wings.

Flashes in the corner of our perception sometimes going unnoticed until awareness registers; and then we see them everywhere.

The tidal flats have begun beckoning the shorebirds back. The Dunlin mummurating in thick waves that twist and dive and dance upon the wind, flshing their silvery jewels; while Plovers have mastered distraction to ensure their nests and young are kept safe from predators.

After a season of relative stillness, the “veins” of the coast - the flyways - have begun to hum with traffic and the pulse of wings.

This migration. This movement. Marks a time of awakening. Where unknown forces compel vast flocks to journey northwards towards their summer breeding grounds. This stopover - their annual blessing - on the coastal through ways of the BC west coast connects our spot in the greater ecosystem to habitats many of us will never visit. Echoes of other worlds reaching us through the gauzy flap of a wing.

The increase in feathered flight and migration of our avian kin through these flyways - this awakening - is a visceral example of the interconnectedness the planet.

Invite yourself to become aware of the pulse of your veins.

Can you notice the path it travels through your body; connecting the vast distance between your toes and your head?

How does your body feel as it adjusts to this quickening?

Allow yourself to become curious as to where this awakening may be arising first?

What emotions or sensations are dominant?

The threads of hemispheric interconnectedness are woven through the beaks of shorebirds.

Arriving from their wintering grounds in southern climes where they nourish themselves on proteins and fats in the South American wetlands, their deposits of guano and feathers on their stopover “flyways” of Vancouver Island fertilize this temporary habitat to contribute to an abundance of west coast plant and algae. Their summers spent in the Arctic tundra ensure insect populations are kept in check and contribute to the transfer of vast amounts of Arctic biomass into southern food webs when the birds are preyed upon by raptor populations on their return through BC or South America.

This transfer of energy across multiple habitats weave threads so interconnected that pulling on one will ensure the loosening or dislodging of another. They are global sentinels contributing to the health of each locale they temporarily reside. The aphorism “canaries in a coal mine” is another quality of these avian folk due to their exceptional sensitivity to habitat degradation, pollution and climate change.

The health of a BC mudflat can determine whether a bird has the energy required to successfully breed in the Arctic. If any of these threads are broken or damaged, an entire ecosystem can suffer due to losing the ecological services that these birds provide.

Watching them dance, swoop, peck and strut through the mudflats and watery shores it can be hard to fathom that only days before they were in the southern hemisphere and in just a few more short weeks they will be bathing in the midnight sun of the Arctic….

READ THE FULL ESSAY HERE →

The Invitation 

Weekly nature connection practices aligned seasonally to engage with your locale. Encouraging immersion, appreciation and spiritual attunement with the more than human world around you.

^{Always remember to enjoy these practices within the bounds of your physical and ecological limits (do not sit outside when it’s -40, or walk on slippery surfaces), practice “leave no trace” and mindful reciprocity (take only what you need, ask permission from the earth, and only leave what is naturally biodegradable)}

A Final Note

Singing the Earth

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Nature. Connected.