The team spent the weekend at a Wader Study Group meeting held on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. At an all-day session on Red Knots, our team presented many of the papers covering research being carried out from Tierra Del Fuego all along the migratory route on up to the Arctic. We will try to put the Power Point presentations up on this web site.

Our first day trapping was thwarted by a furious on-shore wind of at least 20-25 knots. We eventually fired but the wind practically stopped the net.

Wind plays an important part in assessing the impact of the declining availability of horseshoe crab eggs. On-shore winds create waves, and waves prevent crabs from reaching the beach. Without crabs there are no eggs and so the birds must move. But the bayshore twists in all directions and usually an onshore wind on one part leaves another unaffected. But two years ago ten days of on-shore winds in Delaware left much of their beach without crabs leaving many shorebirds without food. These extraordinary on-shore winds are infrequent but occur consistantly and must be taking into account when managing the needs of shorebirds.

Lawrence J. Niles, PhD
Chief, NJ Endangered Species Program