Over a thousand reasons to visit NJ in May.

[ngannet]

Here is the horseshoe crab egg feeding frenzy. Those involved: Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, and the endangered Red Knot. Sorry I don't have any closeups. When the tide and light is right, you can get some great shots from behind the protective barricade.

http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/image/60968356.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/image/60968357.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/image/60968358.jpg

[Gary Fairhead]

That is alot of shorebirds on one shoreline. It must be pretty noisy and why the barricade.....is this to protect the birds, the shoreline?

[ngannet]

There is a barricade to help the birds. In the case of the Red Knot, they make one stop between South America and the Arctic and that's the Delaware Bayshore. If they don't fatten up enough on the horseshoe crab eggs, they'll never make it. Here (http://www.njaudubon.org/Conservation/HSCrabAlert.html) is a link about the Red Knot/horseshoe crab phenomenon. The noise is really only created by the Laughing gulls which you can imagine. Here is a shot of a Red Knot I took last year when they were a bit closer:

http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/image/45782410.jpg

[csquared63]

Nice photos and story, ngannet. Hopefully they'll keep protecting the Red knot by limiting the horseshoe crab fishing.

-Carl

[T.D.]

Beautiful shots. All are very nice. They remind me of growing up on the coast.

Good job!

[Anthony J Howe]

Sure is a tremendous lot of shore-birds in the first shot and a good capture of the flight of flock of birds in the second shot.
Beautiful bird the Red Knot. Good shots.

[samsen]

A thousand reasons. Which one is J's girls?

[dancad]

Quite a sight you've managed to show us here. Must be pretty impressive being there in person.