Here’s what’s coming naturally to Whatcom’s land, sea and air

SEPTEMBER

▪ Berries fruit in the mountains, bringing bears into the meadows.

▪ Orb-weaving spiders reach peak size and mate.

▪ Southern resident (or Salish Sea) orcas leave at the end of the month.

▪ Rivers reach their lowest flows.

▪ Two weeks after the first thorough rain of the fall, mushrooms sprout, including chanterelles and boletes.

▪ Huge wracks of eelgrass and kelp wash up on beaches.

OCTOBER

▪ Migrating birds of prey ride thermals near ridge tops.

▪ Douglas fir cones open, releasing seeds to the wind.

▪ When big-leaf maples lose their leaves, mosses and licorice ferns on their branches start growing.

▪ Rough-legged hawks arrive from the Arctic, along with a variety of hawks and owls that winter in the area.

▪ Snow geese arrive.

▪ Gray whales migrate south.

▪ Chinook, coho and chum salmon begin running in Whatcom Creek and continue into December. Coho and chum begin running on Chuckanut Creek and continue into December.

▪ Black bears den and enter a modified form of hibernation known as torpor. Though drowsy, bears still can defend themselves and their cubs should a predator threaten.

▪ Brant arrive at Padilla Bay.

NOVEMBER

▪ Trumpeter swans arrive.

▪ Mosses mate, their sperm swimming through rainwater. Their spore bodies form over the winter.

▪ Varied thrushes appear in inhabited areas of the lowlands.

▪ Extreme high tides of winter are pushed higher still by November storms.

▪ Most slugs go into hibernation.

▪ Coho and chum begin running in the Nooksack River and Squalicum Creek, and continue into December.

This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 6:01 AM with the headline "Here’s what’s coming naturally to Whatcom’s land, sea and air."