Walking With Nature: Spring Comes to the Gateway Wetlands

Spring returned to the Gateway Wetlands early this year. If the weather this week makes you doubt my word, just ask the snapping turtles. By Feb. 29, at least one snapping turtle ventured onto the pond shore near the bridge to loll in the sun.

At mid-March, as I drove onto Feather Sound, I spotted another snapper. This one was out for a stroll in the street. A woman stopped her car and tried to pick up the turtle. Not knowing she was trying to help, the turtle hissed and snapped at her. The woman hesitated to complete her errand of mercy. I flipped on my hazard lights, turned off the motor and jumped out of my car, camera in hand. Just then a young man dashed over.

“Wait,” I called, “I want to get a picture.”

He either didn’t hear me or chose to ignore my request. Deftly he picked up the snapping turtle and dropped her unceremoniously—but gently—in the grass between street and sidewalk. It was probably a female snapper since they are more adventurous and prone to wander than the males. That same day, a turtle, probably the one I had seen in February, sunned himself near the bridge.

Last week at the wetlands, I attended a free concert, “Songs of the Marsh.” It is repeated—with variations—each morning in early spring. When I arrived about 9:15 a.m., the performance was already in progress. Robins sang cheerup, cheerup, in their melodic voices.

When the poet William Carlos Williams said the red-winged blackbird “croaks frog-/like,” he was greatly underestimating the delight its songs can bring. They added another, more staccato line of cheer-reeeee, cheer-reeeee, as well as woodwind whistles and percussion, thk, thk, thk, thk-thk-thk-thk. A countertenor cardinal, hidden somewhere offstage, provided one of spring’s most beautiful themes. A goose’s deeper, louder voice briefly drowned out the others. He quickly quieted, disappearing among the cattails with his mate. A pair of possibly love-struck mallard ducks remained silent for the moment, as if listening to their neighbors’ songs enhanced their own relationship.

Other signs of spring enliven the Gateway Wetlands during March. Buds appeared on trees and bushes. Browns began to lose a little of their dominance as green proliferated. On the bank, the Golden Glory (Cornus mas, a cherry dogwood) burst into bloom. To my surprise, three dragonflies with ethereal, almost golden wings, greeted me last Wednesday. Spring doesn’t last long, so if you want to experience it in the Wetlands and to hear the “Songs of the Marsh” spring concert, don’t delay.

© 2012