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Tag Archives: dunlin

Horseshoe Crabs 2018 – 2

27 Sunday May 2018

Posted by neihtn2012 in Photography

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

dunlin, horseshoe crab, laughing gull, photography, postaday, red knot, sanderling

Here are some more photos to give you an idea of what the annual Horseshoe Crab egg feast is like on the South Jersey shoreline.

Sanderlings and other birds near an upside down Horseshoe Crab.

Shore birds, including Red Knots to the left of image, waiting for Horseshoe Crabs eggs being spawned on the right.

Shore birds flying up as a Bald Eagle passed by.

Red Knots, Dunlins, Sanderlings eating eggs by upturned Horseshoe Crab.

A couple of Laughing Gulls had needs other than food to be met.

Laughing Gulls temporarily did not care for Horseshoe Crab eggs.

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Dunlins in Flight

24 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

dunlin, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, photography, postaday

According to Audubon, Dunlin means “little dun-colored (gray-brown) bird”. It is a very common shore bird migrating about now from their breeding grounds in the Artic to coastal areas of the United States.

Dunlins are easily identified as they fly in groups ranging from a few dozens to hundreds or even thousands. They seem to have a way of communicating effectively with one another as they bank, turn, or climb up and dive down in perfect unison. Their flight is an amazing sight that I tried to capture in the following photos, with just a few members of a band of Dunlins.

Dunlins in flight.

Dunlins in flight.

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Happy Thanksgiving 2017!

23 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by neihtn2012 in Photography

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

dunlin, photography, postaday, thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogger friends and visitors!

Dunlins feasting on Horseshoe Crab eggs in May of this year.

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Monday Monochrome

29 Monday May 2017

Posted by neihtn2012 in Photography

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

dunlin, fortescue, horsehoe crab, monochrome, photography, postaday, ruddy turnstone

Here are some monochrome photos to highlight this Horseshoe Crab season. Currently, the populations of Horseshoe Crabs, as well as of the birds that eat their eggs, Red Knots, Dunlins, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Ruddy Turnstone, are all supposed to be in decline. There is no single cause and probably many unknowns as well.

Female Horseshoe Crab, its outer shell encrusted with sea snails and other sea shells. She was trying to shelter under a bridge over Oyster Creek at Fortescue, NJ.

Dunlins eating Horseshoe Crab eggs. They must have found a food spot!

A good scratch: Ruddy Turnstone between feedings on Forstescue beach.

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Horseshoe Crabs 2017

20 Saturday May 2017

Posted by neihtn2012 in Photography

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

dunlin, horsehoe crab, photography, postaday, red knot

The shores of South Jersey bordering Delaware Bay are where Horseshoe Crabs come ashore every May to mate. The female crabs lay eggs in the sand and the male crabs fertilize them. The eggs are a favorite source of food for many birds, particularly for Red Knots, those long-distance migrators that travel more than 9,000 miles (15,000 km) from Tierra del Fuego at the very end of South America to the Artic in North America.

So at this time of the year. there are literally thousands and thousands of shore birds, including Red Knots, at the South Jersey shore. To protect the birds the beaches are off limits to people for one month, from May 7th to June 7th, which meant I could only take pictures from a good distance away.

Small island off Fortescue, NJ, a typical scene at this time of the year.

Even in the above photo, you can see several Horseshoe Crab that got upended, laying on their backs waiting for the tide to help them get back on their feet. Many will eventually die if that does not happen, becoming another source of food for seagulls and other birds.

Horseshoe Crab trying to turn itself over. They can’t, and they need help from the waves.

Horseshoe Crab dying. It was still trying to move its feet.

Dunlins looking for Horseschoe Crab eggs buried in sand.

Shore birds, among them a Red Knot, eating eggs around female Horseshoe Crab half buried in background.

Ruddy Turnstones eatings eggs next to two Horseshoe Crabs.

Red Knot, long-distance migrator.

Typical scene at South Jersey shore in May. No people, just birds.

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Shore Birds

02 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

dowitcher, dunlin, edwin b forstythe national wildlife refuge, oystercatcher, photography, postaday, ruddy turnstone

I took the following photos of these beautiful shore birds at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in May of this year, but somehow never got around to post them here. Better late than never, so here they are.

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Dunlin_IMG_0173

Dunlin

Dowitcher

Short-billed Dowitcher

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher: standing on one leg while scratching with the other.

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Thousand Dunlins

24 Saturday Jan 2015

Posted by neihtn2012 in EBF Refuge, Photography

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

dunlin, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Holgate, photography, postaday

Yesterday I again went to the Holgate section of the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Temperatures started below freezing but by noon they had reached 38 F (3 C), there was no wind, so it was a relatively pleasant stroll for me.

Along the beach there were literally tens of thousands of dunlins, many asleep. Dunlins, a kind of sandpiper, breed in the tundra near the Artic, and in the winter migrate to the East Coast as far down as Florida.

Dunlins

Dunlins

Once in a while, they would all fly up in unison.

Dunlins

Dunlins flying up

Dunlins

Dunlins flying up

Then they would land ahead of me.

Dunlins landing

Dunlins landing

This is how they looked after landing. This taking off and landing took place several times, matching my progress as I neared the southern tip of Long Beach Island.

Dunlins

Dunlins

After a while I realized that there were no ducks of any kind in the surf. Last week there were Northern Pintails, Long-Tailed Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and possibly other kinds as well. The explanation came by the time I reached the end of the island. There was a camouflaged duck-hunting boat bobbing on the water, with several duck decoys floating around it. By the time I took the following picture, the hunters had gathered their fake ducks and were getting ready to move to another spot.

Duck-hunting boat

Duck-hunting boat 

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