Mother Nature Network: Birds gamble on survival on shores of Delaware Bay
Horseshoe crab eggs in human palm in Delaware's Mispillion Harbor.
Photo Credit: Gregory Breese
Not far from the casinos of Atlantic City, a different kind of wager takes place each May along the shores of Delaware Bay.
That's when red knots, birds the size of a coffee mug, stake their future on the eggs laid by tens of thousands of horseshoe crabs. Without enough crab eggs to fuel them, the long-distance fliers may not survive their 10,000-mile spring trek from the southern tip of South America to their Arctic breeding grounds.
That's when red knots, birds the size of a coffee mug, stake their future on the eggs laid by tens of thousands of horseshoe crabs. Without enough crab eggs to fuel them, the long-distance fliers may not survive their 10,000-mile spring trek from the southern tip of South America to their Arctic breeding grounds.
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 7/13/2011 6:00 AM 
Categories: Birds
Tags: Delaware Bay horseshoe crabs red knot Birds eggs
Categories: Birds
Tags: Delaware Bay horseshoe crabs red knot Birds eggs
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