PPT Slide
Sandy Beaches are Important to Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings
Notes:
The birds gather on the sandy beaches to feast on the eggs of horseshoe crabs. The eggs are high in fat and allow birds to gain weight faster than anywhere else in the world. They need to build weight fast. They squeeze Arctic breeding, egg laying, incubation, hatching and brood rearing into a small window of good weather. They leave the bay and arrive in the Arctic in early June. They must leave by the end of July. The schedule is inflexible.