With Humphrey Sitters coming from England on the 30th of April, and Dick Veitch from New Zealand following shortly thereafter, we thought the 2002 Shorebird season would begin slowly. The Delaware Bay beaches were nearly empty of birds and crabs so we had time. However, a few days of surveys and preparing equipment made our team eager to start. On May 6, we had a net set on Reeds Beach in front of some of the only sanderlings on the bayshore. After only a short wait, we had over 469 birds (447 sanderling, 4 red knots and 30 ruddy turnstones) under our net, and in short order had our data and the birds on their way with bands.

It was a great start to a season that will include some of our more challenging work. As in past, we intend to continue the surveillance of bird weights and numbers on the bayshore. It's a demanding job that, in itself, will command the time of many people on the banding team and a dedicated corps of volunteers. But we must do more.

We have several major questions for our work this year. As crabs and eggs continue to decline, the pressure builds to find out how birds will respond. We know they are losing their ability to gain weight, dropping from 9 grams/day in 1997 to 4 grams/day in 2001, but what will happen this year?

Adding to our concern is the great decline (58 percent) in the red knot wintering population. Will we see the same decline here on the bay? What is going on with other species? David Mizrahi of New Jersey Audubon has found that semipalmated sandpipers declining in their ability to gain weight as well . . . . . does this mean the birds of the marsh, dunlin and dowitchers, are also declining?

Last year, we found birds on the Atlantic coast marsh feeding on mussel spat when they should have been on the Delaware Bay shore eating horseshoe crab eggs and getting fat. Why were these birds in the marsh? In our 2001 aerial counts of the Delaware Bay beaches, most of the red knots left the bay before the population reached full weight. Where are they going? We know our trapping will tell us only part of the story.

So, we will start several new studies in 2002. First, we will expand work started by Humphrey over the past two seasons on alternative foods for red knots. The expansion will help us understand the movement of birds between the bayshore and the Atlantic coast marsh in response to increasingly unpredictable and generally decreasing numbers of crab eggs.

We will also begin an aerial survey of birds in the marsh on both coasts. This survey, led by Mandy Dey, will tell the densities of birds throughout the Atlantic and Delaware Bay coasts. By this date (May 14) we had three more catches including a 401-knot catch, 10 days of ground surveys, and two aerial counts of Delaware Bay beaches (see summaries of weekly aerial counts, daily ground counts, daily catch records), and the season has only started. We are all hoping for the best. Our team

Lawrence J. Niles, PhD
Chief, NJ Endangered Species Program