Nature Connection: It’s The Little Things

Spring may be my favorite season for walking. It’s not too hot, not too cold, and there’s something new happening every day. Nature is always up to something, no matter what the weather or season happens to be, but in spring, everything seems new again.

The leaves are a soft limey green and are soft to the touch as well. Feel a new oak leaf. They’re like velvet right now. Sassfrass leaves are unique in that they can come in several shapes. Some are mitten-shaped while others have two or three fingers. Soon their pretty yellow flowers will bloom, but first we must dust off all the oak pollen that is sifting through the air. Don’t worry; when that is done, the pine pollen will be here in full force, so stock up on handkerchiefs or tissues if the pollen makes you sneeze.

It's easy to get carried away looking for all the big things at this time of year. Birds are migrating through, fish are arriving, squid are laying eggs, whales are breaching, baby foxes are running and tumbling, and flowers are blooming everywhere.

On some recent walks in the woods, I was admiring the sarsaparilla flowers that were beginning to fade and the Canada mayflowers which were in riotous bloom all over the forest floor. There were some ladyslippers standing quietly in their piney spots and the sheep’s laurel was thinking about blooming.

As I was checking out some blooming viburnum shrubs, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. The greenbrier, also called catbrier by some, was also blooming. The flowers were tiny, hanging like itsy-bitsy, pale-yellow bells beneath the new leaves. As I watched, tiny insects were flying and crawling all over them, and I thought about all the little things that go on around us all the time that we hardly notice.

Nearby something moved, and I realized that a yellow spider not much larger than a pinhead was sitting in the middle of its web, waiting, no doubt, for breakfast to stop in. As I watched it watching me, I noticed that there were little webs with little yellow spiders all over the place. Some had been rewarded with breakfast while others still waited patiently. All around me tiny dramas were unfolding, and I might have just walked on by, missing it all.

Later I found some little red-topped lichens on a log. Called British soldier lichen when I was a kid, due to their red hats, these lichens have always had a soft spot in my heart. There’s something whimsical about them. Most of the lichens we see here on the Cape are a duller color. Still beautiful in their structure, most have a grayish tint, whether a mustard-yellow or blue-green color. None are so brightly commanding attention. As a kid I imagined fairies tending these little gardens, and I would leave acorn caps and berries for them. Often my offerings were gone when I returned a few days later. Today I know that squirrels, mice, even birds probably moved or ate them, but it was much more fun to imagine mythical creatures enjoying my largesse.

The more I started looking for the little things, the more I found. There were several sandy areas just covered with ants. The ants had black abdomens but red or rusty thoraxes and heads. Wood ants, common here, is what I was told they were, and they were very busy, almost as busy as bees. There were bees, too, and flies, and in one area close to some stagnant fresh water there were clusters of mayflies. All these insects have different life cycles and various jobs to do. Some break down detritus while others eat other tiny critters. In the end, many are extremely important food sources, especially for nesting birds.

Under and around a rotting log I found some red-backed salamanders, little amphibians that don’t lay eggs in water like most of their relatives. These little guys — well gals, actually — lay eggs in the damp wood and then hang around to protect them. This is unusual behavior for amphibians, but that’s one of the things that makes nature so interesting. Every rule has an exception. This is important for survival, of course. 

Conditions are always changing. Having some flexibility and diversity is a good thing. Imagine if all insects, or birds, or fish, or mammals were the same and all ate or used the same things. The world would be stripped of some resources very quickly while others would overpopulate just as quickly. Diversity allows for differences, and we need all those things to make our world habitable and relatively safe.

A small yellow flower caught my attention as I was heading home on a trail. The sun was getting warm, and I paused to get a better look. It was about 10 inches tall with one bloom and a bud hidden beneath that. It had a spindly appearance, but with its placement in what appeared to be sandy, pebbly soil, that wasn’t overly surprising. I sketched it and looked it up later. It was a hoary frost flower, found in poor soil and only blooming on sunny days. Who knew? Not me but if I hadn’t been bending down looking at a beetle running across the path, I may have missed it.

The little things often go unnoticed in this busy, crazy world obsessed with the next big thing. In reality, though, it’s the little things that keep our planet livable and fruitful.

The next time you’re out on a walk or just sitting in your backyard, take a look around and appreciate all the little things that make a life worth living. It’s good to remember it takes all of us, not just some of us, to keep the world spinning round.