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Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs at Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay hosts the largest spawning population of horseshoe crabs in the world and the second largest population of migrating shorebirds in North America. Over eighty percent of the Western Hemisphere’s population of red knot depends upon horseshoe crab eggs to double their weight in less than two weeks before flying to the Arctic to nest. Delaware Bay is designated within the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network as having the highest reserve status. In addition to providing the principal food source for migratory birds in Delaware Bay, horseshoe crabs comprise the main diet of juvenile loggerhead turtles. To help band and resight birds: The Delaware Shorebird Project To Report Banded shorebirds: General information about Shorebirds: International Wader Study Group Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring Shorebird Research Group of the Americas Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Fact sheet on shorebird species Report Tagged Horseshoe Crabs: Horseshoe Crab Spawner Survey: 2010 Horshoecrab Census Information Other Information about Horseshoe Crabs: Ecological Research & Development Group Seagrant and NOAA site on Horshoe crabs |
