eNewsletter

This past week brought a beautiful encounter for one of our pond teams. APCC Pond Technician May Lopopolo came across this Eastern tiger swallowtail at Gull Pond in Wellfleet while preparing to paddle out in the canoe to collect water quality data.

This spring, herring are once again running strong at the Stony Brook Herring Run. Thanks to the dedication of more than 50 volunteer monitors, more than 20,000 cumulative herring have already been counted migrating upstream into Mill Pond to spawn.

Cape Cod’s coastal systems are always telling us something. A stream running lower than expected. River herring arriving later than in years past. Fish holding below a barrier instead of moving upstream. A shell worn smooth by time, tide, and sand. A familiar pattern shifting just enough to make me stop and look again.

Across Cape Cod, this year’s river herring migration is showing encouraging momentum. The run started earlier and stronger than last year, and observations from multiple monitored runs suggest that 2026 is continuing to outpace 2025 at this point in the season.

Freshwater ponds are an important part of the quality of life on Cape Cod. APCC has developed several programs designed to measure water quality and provide information to the public.

As temperatures get warm on Cape, many of our migratory bird species are taking a road trip to spend their summers here. One such species is the showy ruby-throated hummingbird.

It’s still feeling pretty chilly and windy here on Cape Cod, but if you head out to the ponds, you’ll notice the critters are starting to wake up from their winter rest (if they rested at all).

We’re back out on the ponds—and we hope to see you there!
Along with the spring peepers having migrated from the woods to the pond shores and vernal pools for breeding season, APCC’s Cape Cod Regional Pond Monitoring team has also been making its way back to the water.

As temperatures warm and the ground thaws, many of us have started to notice the first signs of life emerging from our soils. Flies, ants, bees, and other pollinators emerge from their winter homes, which could be in underground burrows, tucked within fallen leaves, or bored inside hollow stems.

A variety of birds make Cape Cod their home throughout the year, inhabiting the Cape’s inland woods and ponds, coasts and shorelines.