Shorebird and Horseshoe Crabs on Delaware Bay 2023. The blog describe the work of our international team monitoring numbers of shorebirds, horseshoe crab egg densities and conducting research on shorebird movement, crab spawning and other issues critical to the survival of shorebird species.
In the 1970s and 80s, most of the horseshoe crab largess floated into the sea or remained buried in the sand. The excess surface eggs that will never hatch and the newly hatched young provided an ecological cornucopia of resources underpinning finfish productivity. It’s no accident that when Karen Williams measured 100,000 eggs/square meter, Fortescue called itself “The Weakfish Capital of the World.” It only makes sense.