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Shorebirds arrive from South America.
© Clay Myers |
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Eastern shores are a crucial stopover for migratory birds.
© Clay Myers |
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Q. What Do Migrating Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs Have in Common?
A. They Both Need Lots of Crab Eggs to Survive.
Every spring shorebirds migrate from wintering grounds in South America to breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic. They need to refuel along the way, and Delaware Bay, where there is the largest concentration of spawning horseshoe crabs along the Atlantic coast, is a prime stopping place. Each year between half a million and 1.5 million shorebirds--primarily red knots, sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, and semipalmated sandpipers--arrive to gorge themselves on the horseshoe crab eggs.
The birds' stopover coincides with crab spawning time, which begins in late April and goes through mid-August, although peak spawning occurs in late May to late June. The entire surface of prime beaches can be meters thick with mating crabs, which may return several times to dig nests and lay eggs.
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