Tracking Horseshoe Crab Migration in the Delaware Bay

The Delaware Bay is a hotspot of sorts for spawning horseshoe crabs, and this can be witnessed during May and June during the peak of their spawning season. Their spawning coincides with the movement of ravenous migratory shorebirds along the Atlantic Flyway. When the temperature of the Delaware Bay's shallow, protected back bay water reaches around 59 degrees F, horseshoe crabs come from the edge of the continental shelf to the beach to lay eggs. At the same time, migratory shorebirds such as Red Knots (Calidris canutus), Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres), and Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) descend upon area beaches, desperate to...