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After arriving home, I would have been happy to vegetate for a few weeks before starting our work on Delaware Bay. But I had arranged an inadvertent epilogue to our trip in Lagoa do Piexe with a visit to the new Delaware Bay exhibit in the newly renovated Birdhouse of the National Zoo.
Over the last 4 years, the Zoo has reconstructed the 1920s structure on three themes. One devoted to Neotropical songbirds that nest in the field, marsh, and forest of North America and winter in Central and South America. The second part of the Birdhouse is devoted to the waterfowl that nest in the Prairie Pothole region of the prairie states from Kansas to Saskatchewan but populate all of the eastern US during the nonbreeding period. The third section of the house tells the story of the red knot and other shorebirds that migrate to South America. It emphasizes Delaware Bay as the chief stopover but tells the story of all the stopovers. It has birds, horseshoe crabs, beaches, and a marsh – every part of Delaware Bay is important to these birds.
Mandy and I took our son Dan, his wife Jen, and our grandchildren Ben and Amelia for our first visit to the exhibit. The Curator of Birds, Sara Hallager, and Animal Keeper Lori Smith ( Pictured with my wife, Mandy Dey, above) accompanied us as we toured the site and other places they knew the kids would love. The exhibit is personal for Mandy and me, as we helped develop it, which includes sanderling, ruddy turnstones, other shorebirds, and one lone red knot found injured and rehabbed for the exhibit.
I watched the kids explore the exhibit. The beach and pond where the sanderlings chittered away at each other, or the water tank where horseshoe crabs crawled along the bottom. I saw many other people move through the exhibit. Most just experienced the birds and crabs and moved on. Some lingered, trying to understand more. The Zoo predicts more than 2 million people will see this exhibit yearly. Hopefully, some will care enough to join the many people who act for conservation.
We thank the Canadian Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative, and US Fish and Wildlife Service for buying transmitters and supporting our work in Lagoa do Peixe and the Unisinos Team, who will continue the work. We thank the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for making possible a project that unites work in Lagoa do Piexe and Delaware Bay to create a better understanding of the threats to both places and shorebirds.
Benjamin and Amelia Niles, my grandchildren at the National Zoo exhibit on Delaware Bay
Grandpa Niles watches horseshoe crabs in the National Zoo exhibit with grandchildren Benjamin and Amelia Niles
