Picture Of The Week 06-20-11

Where: Slaughter Beach, DE • Red Knot Cottage

Notes: We stayed at the Red Knot Cottage during the peak week of this annual natural event. The charming, well equipt house is located waterfront on the Deleware Bay. This photo was taken just behind the cottage on the last morning of our week long stay.

Red Knot makes one of the longest yearly migrations of any bird, traveling over 9,000 miles each way from Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America to its Arctic breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere. These sandpipers concentrate in large numbers at traditional staging grounds during migration. The shore of the Delaware Bay is one such stop-over location during their northward spring journey. It is estimated that nearly ninety percent of the entire population of the Red Knot (subspecies rufa) can be present on the Delaware Bay on a single spring day. These birds show up to feed on the eggs of spawning horseshoe crabs. The crab spawning is sparked by the full moon each spring in May. This is what fuels the remaining leg of their flight to the Arctic. however the reduction in food availability, because of the heavy harvesting of horseshoe crabs, is most likely responsible for the drastic decline in Red Knot populations. Without enough Horseshoe Crab eggs on the beach, they are not be able rebuild enough body fat to finish their flight to their breeding grounds for the short reproductive season on the Arctic tundra.

Equipment: Canon EOS 40D • Canon 800 mm FD f-5.6 L Series Lens • Manfroto Tripod • FD to EOS Adapter

Exposure: Shutter Speed = 1/1000 second • Aperture = f 7.1 • Exposure Mode = Manual • Focus Mode: Manual (only) • Lens (Focal) Length = 800 mm • ISO = 800 • Aprox. Camera Distance = ~40 Feet • Date Shot: 05-25-11

©2011 Robert W. Schamerhorn. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.