Tuesday, May 3, 2016

The Red Knots

An impressive screen takes place each spring along the Delaware Bayshores of New Jersey-- a sensation not seen anywhere else worldwide.

Numerous hundreds of shorebirds-- consisting of sandpipers, sanderlings and ruddy turnstones-- assemble on the shores of the Bay as part of a yearly migration to their summer season reproducing grounds in the far away Arctic.

However, one bird stands apart from the remainder for its genuinely impressive annual migration: the red knot.

Red knots fly greater than 9,000 miles from southern to north every springtime as well as repeat the journey backwards every autumn, making this bird among the longest-distance travelers in the animal kingdom.