Wild New Jersey Exclusive: NJ Fish & Wildlife studies red knots on Delaware Bayshore
A volunteer holds a ruddy turnstone. All photos by David Wheeler.
From mid-May to early June on Cape May's bayshore, New Jersey Fish & Wildlife researchers and volunteers from Citizens United for the Maurice River are conducting a study of red knots, a shorebird with a legendary migration from Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America, to the Arctic. Red knots feast on the eggs of horseshoe crabs, which have been dwindling in numbers due to overharvesting.
Wild New Jersey's David Wheeler spent a recent afternoon with the team, which braves the rain, biting gnats, and the fickleness of nature to study this amazing creature. According to Fish & Wildlife's Amanda Dey, over 6,000 red knots were spotted along a stretch of the bayshore this past weekend. And though small flocks of red knots were observed on this particular afternoon, the day's catch was limited mostly to ruddy turnstone, sanderling, and a stray laughing gull and willet - all of which were released after collecting basic data.
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 5/19/2009 1:00 PM 
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Birds
Tags: willet red knots South America Delaware Bayshore ruddy turnstone Arctic laughing gull horseshoe crabs Tierra del Fuego sanderling
Categories: WNJ Exclusives, Birds
Tags: willet red knots South America Delaware Bayshore ruddy turnstone Arctic laughing gull horseshoe crabs Tierra del Fuego sanderling
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