Comments on: Preliminary and anecdotal report on GCA’s work for 2009 at Delaware Bay… shorebird research and bird photos http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/index.php/2009/06/preliminary-and-anecdotal-report-on-gcas-work-for-2009-at-delaware-bay-shorebird-research-and-bird-photos/ Tales of the birding experience and finding the artistic and the spiritual in avian photography Mon, 16 May 2011 19:05:56 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Lanny McDowell http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/index.php/2009/06/preliminary-and-anecdotal-report-on-gcas-work-for-2009-at-delaware-bay-shorebird-research-and-bird-photos/comment-page-1/#comment-1327 Lanny McDowell Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:00:29 +0000 http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/?p=953#comment-1327 Jake, How cool is that, that you found my blog and made contact?! In 2008 & 2009 we spent approx. one week in southern NJ across the peninsula from Stone Harbor. In 2008 one of the other GCA guys, Porter, and I would drive over to Stone Harbor around sunset to watch the knots and other shorebirds headed to roost. You live in a very dynamic part of the East Coast, nature-wise. We hope to be back on Delaware Bay in oh ten. What we will be doing then, exactly, is not determined at this time. However, it should entail some application of what we have been thinking about and testing up to this point, namely, that there may be a technique or techniques that we could apply that would make more horseshoe crab eggs available to the feeding shorebirds. It sounds simple when you say it, but not only is the bay ecology complex, but the bureaucratic and political landscape may require attention as well. The experiments we conducted this year will hopefully lay the foundation for more large-scale projects in the future, assuming that there is a continuing need (likely!). The first non-official reports about the numbers of avian migrants showing up, at least Red Knots, and their departure rates were both trending optimistic after this season. I do not think anyone would conclude that a better breeding and survival rate in the Arctic last year means the scary declines in shorebirds is reversing, any more than a dip in gas prices at the pump means that global warming is going away anytime soon. If GCA can develop, permit and apply useful strategies that help the birds put on fat, that could be a tool to use during years of lower survival or low HS crab egg production, until a time when the HS crab breeding population has rebounded to sustainable levels. This year I was struck by how spread out all the birds were, moving back and forth along the beaches from feeding to resting to feeding locations. And it sounds like there were a lot of birds on the DE side this year. Last year we watched the knots feeding in a very concentrated group at Moore's Beach. This year they were all over and so were the HS crab eggs. As to volunteering, sure, I will bet we could use your help. The more we set out to do, the more hands we need. But most likely we are talking about May of 2010, so stay interested and stay in touch. Try me in March - it's closer than you think - and I will bring you up to date on our plans. Lanny Jake, How cool is that, that you found my blog and made contact?! In 2008 & 2009 we spent approx. one week in southern NJ across the peninsula from Stone Harbor. In 2008 one of the other GCA guys, Porter, and I would drive over to Stone Harbor around sunset to watch the knots and other shorebirds headed to roost. You live in a very dynamic part of the East Coast, nature-wise.

We hope to be back on Delaware Bay in oh ten. What we will be doing then, exactly, is not determined at this time. However, it should entail some application of what we have been thinking about and testing up to this point, namely, that there may be a technique or techniques that we could apply that would make more horseshoe crab eggs available to the feeding shorebirds. It sounds simple when you say it, but not only is the bay ecology complex, but the bureaucratic and political landscape may require attention as well. The experiments we conducted this year will hopefully lay the foundation for more large-scale projects in the future, assuming that there is a continuing need (likely!). The first non-official reports about the numbers of avian migrants showing up, at least Red Knots, and their departure rates were both trending optimistic after this season.

I do not think anyone would conclude that a better breeding and survival rate in the Arctic last year means the scary declines in shorebirds is reversing, any more than a dip in gas prices at the pump means that global warming is going away anytime soon. If GCA can develop, permit and apply useful strategies that help the birds put on fat, that could be a tool to use during years of lower survival or low HS crab egg production, until a time when the HS crab breeding population has rebounded to sustainable levels.

This year I was struck by how spread out all the birds were, moving back and forth along the beaches from feeding to resting to feeding locations. And it sounds like there were a lot of birds on the DE side this year. Last year we watched the knots feeding in a very concentrated group at Moore’s Beach. This year they were all over and so were the HS crab eggs.

As to volunteering, sure, I will bet we could use your help. The more we set out to do, the more hands we need. But most likely we are talking about May of 2010, so stay interested and stay in touch. Try me in March – it’s closer than you think – and I will bring you up to date on our plans.

Lanny

]]> By: jake calvitti http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/index.php/2009/06/preliminary-and-anecdotal-report-on-gcas-work-for-2009-at-delaware-bay-shorebird-research-and-bird-photos/comment-page-1/#comment-1326 jake calvitti Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:26:58 +0000 http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/?p=953#comment-1326 High School student from stone harbor interested in studying marine biology looking for some volunteering! Thanks jake High School student from stone harbor interested in studying marine biology looking for some volunteering!

Thanks
jake

]]> By: Shorebirds: Red Knots and Ruddy Turnstones « boingbird.com http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/index.php/2009/06/preliminary-and-anecdotal-report-on-gcas-work-for-2009-at-delaware-bay-shorebird-research-and-bird-photos/comment-page-1/#comment-1324 Shorebirds: Red Knots and Ruddy Turnstones « boingbird.com Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:17:34 +0000 http://ottgallerymv.com/lannymcdowellavianart/?p=953#comment-1324 [...] birding on the Vineyard, including a page there on saving shorebirds at Delaware  Bay. Latest post: Knot research May, 2009 Delaware Bay I live year ‘round in the town of West Tisbury near the center of Martha’s Vineyard, a one [...] [...] birding on the Vineyard, including a page there on saving shorebirds at Delaware  Bay. Latest post: Knot research May, 2009 Delaware Bay I live year ‘round in the town of West Tisbury near the center of Martha’s Vineyard, a one [...]

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