Reed's Beach - Red Knots and more

Every spring the Red Knot, an endangered shorebird flies from it's wintering home in Chile back to the Arctic to breed.  The birds stop once in the long flight along the shores of the Delaware Bay where it refuels by eating Horseshoe Crab eggs. One of the miracles of nature is that the Horseshoe Crabs know when to leave their homes on the floor of the Atlantic ocean along the East Coast and travel back to the bay to spawn.  This spawning takes place during the new and full moons in May and June with the largest concentration around the full moon in May.  We are building to the full moon now and there are hundred's, probably thousands of the crabs here spawning and many more than I have seen in recent years.  This year the numbers of Red Knots looks higher also.  Stopping at Reed's Beach today I was talking to one of the scientist's who are studying the Red Knots and he said that there were between 6000 and 8000 Red Knots on the beach today where they were trapping and tagging the birds. The birds were flying across from an island nearby in large groups and I could see at least 1000 Red Knots, plus Ruddy Turnstones along with gulls on the beach.  If I could have a wish about spring migration it would be that the Laughing Gull and other gulls didn't also enjoy feasting on the Horseshoe Crab eggs.

Top birds Red Knots(4) and bottom birds Ruddy Turnstones