Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 11:15:51 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Mark S. Garland" Subject: Knots in NJ In-Reply-To: <7B15584B.61CBD710.31189B9A@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Norm, forgive me for talking NJ, but many of the Red Knots that show up in MD use Del. Bay horseshoe crab eggs. Warning to others: I'm about to climb up onto a soap box. Delete now. Yes, there are a lot of Red Knots over here, but they seem stressed by a paucity of horseshoe crab eggs. There was good spawning with last Sunday's full moon, but this crucial resource is in short supply. I've been out with a couple of the banding/research teams. Weights of most of the birds netted are much lower than those recorded in the past -- not just for Knots, but also for Turnstones, Sanderlings, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Some of the researchers have actually observed thousands of Knots feeding on small mollusks they are gleaning from sandbars around Hereford Inlet (Stone Harbor Pt.). It is unlikely that they will gain weight from feeding on these mollusks at a rate that will fuel them successfully to the arctic; the biologists are very worried. Censuses on the wintering territories (the best place to get a reasonable assessment of the total Knot population) show a whopping 54% drop in just 2 years! This really is a crisis. Every indication is that Delaware Bay's disappearing horseshoe crab egg resource is the primary reason for this collapse. NJ Audubon has launched a vigorous letter-writing campaign to the governor of NJ urging an immediate ban on the harvest of horseshoe crabs during spring. I know folks in Delaware are doing the same thing over there. Both states are playing a silly "we won't do it until they do it" stalling game -- it's infuriating! Our conservation director says that letters from out-of-state people are very helpful on this issue -- birders coming to see horseshoe crabs and shorebirds bring ecotourism dollars to both NJ and DE. If anyone wants to write to the NJ gov, it's: The Honorable James McGreevey Governor of New Jersey State House, PO Box 001 Trenton, NJ 08625 Okay, sorry for the rant, and thanks for your response, Tom! Mark Mark S. Garland Senior Naturalist New Jersey Audubon Society Cape May Bird Observatory Northwood Center 701 E. Lake Dr. PO Box 3 Cape May Point, NJ 08212 (609) 884-2736 mark@njaudubon.org www.njaudubon.org -----Original Message----- From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM] On Behalf Of Tom Stock Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 10:42 AM To: MDOSPREY@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Question about Sligo Creek Yellow-crowneds Hi Mark! Good to hear from you on the list! Last I checked - about a week ago - I saw one of the Yellow-crowneds on one of the two nests. A drive-by sighting. They're much harder to see than when I first spotted them (SEVEN birds on April 2) because of all those damn leaves. Something ought to be done about that... I hope all is well in Cape May and that you are seeing more Red Knots than we are on this side... Tom Stock Silver Spring altomomatic@aol.com In a message dated Fri, 31 May 2002 10:09:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mark@NJAUDUBON.ORG writes: > > Does anyone know if the Sligo Creek Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are > still around? If so, I'd like to put them on the radio next week. > (Don't worry, I'll be very vague about the location.) > > Thanks in advance, > > Mark S. Garland > Senior Naturalist > Cape May Bird Observatory > Northwood Center > 701 E. Lake Dr. > PO Box 3 > Cape May Point, NJ 08212 > (609) 884-2736 > mark@njaudubon.org > www.njaudubon.org > > ======================================================================= > To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com > with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey > ============================================================ > =========== > > > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================