FreeLists / va-bird / [va-bird] Red Knots & Horseshoe Crabs

[Phoebetria@xxxxxxx]

I was surprised to see seven Red Knots on Cape Charles Beach yesterday, among 
scores of Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, and Dunlin, with a few Semipalmated 
Sandpipers mixed in.  Knots are scarce on this beach, and this is a late-ish 
date for the "peak," which is usually around 25 May.   The Cape May Bird 
Observatory published an outstanding narrative on the late laying of Horseshoe 
Crabs' eggs in Delaware Bay this season, which I copy out below.  

"The heaviest HORSESHOE CRAB egg-laying along the Delaware Bay beaches
this spring fell NOT in the middle of May (as in many years), but at the
end of May during the high tides leading up to, during, and after the
New Moon on May 31.  Hundreds began coming ashore May 28 and have done
so since during each high tide, including today's (June 5).

The shorebirds that feast on Horseshoe Crab eggs came late too this
year.  The Endangered and Nongame Species Program's weekly aerial
surveys of the entire Delaware Bay shoreline had their highest shorebird
counts on June 3, the first time the peak was in June and not in May.
On June 3 on NJ's Delaware Bay beaches this aerial survey counted: 9,800
RED KNOT, 19,800 RUDDY TURNSTONE, 18,800 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, and
7,800 SANDERLING.  DUNLIN peaked May 14 (8,400) and now  are all but
gone.  Baywide shorebird numbers (Delaware beaches & NJ beaches) totaled
100,855 shorebirds on June 3.  One more aerial survey is scheduled for
the week of June 10; it will be interesting to see how many birds are
still here and if they've gained enough weight to continue their
migration.  Normally the birds depart the first few days of June and
head north to the Canadian Arctic tundra where many of them breed.  This
year their weight gain has been abysmal, since there have not been many
crab eggs to feed on up until now.

Severe conservation measures have been taken this spring regarding the
harvest of HORSESHOE CRABS.  This harvest in NJ has been closed between
May 1 and June 7.  During a normal year this closure would have been a
safe period, but with the crabs coming up to breed so late, the harvest
will occur during the peak of their breeding season.  Horseshoe Crab
harvest will be capped at 150,000 in NJ (half the number taken in 2002).

Sadly Delaware was to have the very same restrictions, but fishermen
there overturned them and have been harvesting crabs all spring.  One
concerned homeowner at Slaughter Beach, DE, relayed how grim the harvest
there is with this account:
  "At the public boat ramp at Slaughter Beach, Delaware, I watched eeler
and conch fisherman use fork lifts to fill their U Hauler trucks with
thousands of live crabs without caring what they are doing.  I was even
there when a member of the wildlife department, studying the shore bird
migrations, begged them to wait a few more days until the Horseshoe Crab
eggs were laid.  The eelers laughed at him.  The residents are very
upset about the state of Delaware NOT taking more of an interest in this
problem.  If something isn't done, I know I will see the end for them in
my lifetime.  Millions of years of life gone because of the mighty
dollar."

New Jersey Audubon's current involvement, needing your help in a
letter-writing campaign (and while you're at it, write a letter to
Delaware's Governor too!), can be found at:
http://www.njaudubon.org/Conservation/HScrabalert.html";

Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA 
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