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.
Tag:
red knot
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The number of red knots and turnstones in NJ this year gave our team a much-needed boost. The birds came back! But hidden in these numbers are a few thorny questions.
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On May 22, we completed the first boat and ground count of NJ beaches, and the count topped last year’s by at least 8000 knots, coming in at 22,107 red knots. In 2019 we counted over 30,000 red knots, but after the bay’s crab spawn failed to materialize in May 2020, the number crashed to 19,000, then to a disastrous 6000 in 2021. Last year the knot numbers bumped to 12,000, giving us hope for the stopover. The increase to 24,000 is good news that tells us a lot.
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After surveying the coast from Dennis Creek to Bidwells Creek, we finished our count. We found another 600 knots and a similar number of turnstones. From Fortescue to Bidwells, we counted 3974 red knots, 3740 ruddy turnstones, and about 500 sanderlings.
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Previous Post 5 On our 7th day of trapping, April…
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We rode the beach of Lagoa do Piexe that night and found over 200 knots roosting in the dry inlet of Lagoa do Piexe