00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:26.280
Every year from 1997,
the shorebird populations

00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:27.880
have gone down like that.

00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:33.560
There are only 25%, a quarter
of the Knot here now,

00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:34.320
that there were

00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.520
when I first came here in 1997.

00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:38.880
Red knot is the poster child

00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:40.520
for all shorebird species.

00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:41.080
The problem

00:00:41.080 --> 00:00:42.720
for Red knots on Delaware Bay

00:00:42.720 --> 00:00:44.520
has been the loss
of Horseshoe crabs.

00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:46.680
The Red knots have declined

00:00:46.680 --> 00:00:47.920
almost entirely

00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:49.440
because of the collapse of

00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:51.600
Delaware Bay Horseshoe crabs.

00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:52.280
In the last

00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:53.040
15 years,

00:00:53.040 --> 00:00:54.000
we haven't seen

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.440
any real signs of improvement.

00:00:56.440 --> 00:00:57.720
This is the last stop-over

00:00:57.720 --> 00:00:58.520
before they go to the

00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:00.080
Arctic breeding areas.

00:01:00.080 --> 00:01:01.480
If they don't have
adequate weight,

00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:02.680
it's like arriving in the Arctic

00:01:02.680 --> 00:01:04.400
without a winter coat
and without food.

00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:06.240
Science is critical.

00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:08.320
What's the best way to

00:01:08.320 --> 00:01:10.080
identify a problem?

00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:11.120
What's the best way

00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:12.760
to solve that problem?

00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.360
We need to put more
eggs on the beach

00:01:15.360 --> 00:01:16.200
right now.

00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:17.840
And to do that, we need to

00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:19.320
have more crabs laying eggs.

00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.800
Should we let this
just disappear?

00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:24.080
No. It's part of the world.

00:01:24.080 --> 00:01:25.160
It's part of us.

00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:25.880
It's part of everything.

00:01:25.880 --> 00:01:28.920
So we should be
looking after it.

00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:11.760
The crab is

00:02:11.760 --> 00:02:15.440
one of those species
that is inextricably

00:02:15.440 --> 00:02:19.200
linked with the lunar cycle.

00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:22.520
If you want to understand crabs,

00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:23.720
you're automatically going

00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:24.600
to understand

00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:27.320
the moon's influence on tides.

00:02:28.160 --> 00:02:29.720
The preferred time

00:02:29.720 --> 00:02:30.720
for their breeding

00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:33.080
is at new and full moon,

00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:38.080
because it's at those times
that the high tides

00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:39.200
get their highest.

00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:42.920
So the high tide gets higher

00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:45.120
as you get to a full moon,

00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:47.360
and that's called a spring tide.

00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:49.080
And then it gets lower

00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.200
as you go into the
inter-moon period

00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:53.600
in between the full
and new moon,

00:02:53.600 --> 00:02:55.880
that's called the neap tide.

00:02:55.880 --> 00:02:57.320
And the height of the high tide

00:02:57.320 --> 00:03:00.280
rises again when you
get the new moon.

00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.280
So the crabs want to
get as far up

00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:04.520
on the beach as they can

00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:06.360
when they lay their eggs.

00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:08.360
A Horseshoe crab is shaped

00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:10.200
like a horseshoe, obviously.

00:03:10.200 --> 00:03:12.480
It has a long tail that it uses

00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:14.880
as a rudder and to right itself.

00:03:14.880 --> 00:03:17.240
It's more closely
related to spiders

00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:18.920
than it is to actual crabs.

00:03:18.920 --> 00:03:21.240
And it has the distinction

00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.880
of being one of the
oldest living animals ever.

00:03:24.880 --> 00:03:25.920
They estimate Horseshoe crabs

00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:28.560
are about 450 million years old

00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:31.480
and haven't changed much
since that time.

00:03:31.880 --> 00:03:34.520
Back in the 1980s,

00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:35.760
when we were

00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:38.000
just starting to work
on the crabs

00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:40.600
and the birds, it was just then

00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:43.600
that the whole migration
was first recognized,

00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.440
and we were trapping
birds at night

00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.920
and I knew about the crabs
and I've seen them and

00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.760
I just moved out from Georgia.

00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:55.280
So we're standing there

00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:57.240
on the interface of the marsh

00:03:57.240 --> 00:03:59.320
and the beach,
we had mist nets up,

00:03:59.320 --> 00:04:01.280
totally dark.

00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.720
And the crabs were
coming in to breed.

00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:06.880
And at first it was creepy.

00:04:06.880 --> 00:04:07.320
You know,

00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:08.120
because they're crawling

00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:09.640
around your feet.

00:04:09.640 --> 00:04:11.280
And when you first experience

00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:11.640
a crab,

00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:12.360
you don't

00:04:12.640 --> 00:04:13.360
really know

00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:14.840
that they're not going
to bite you.

00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:17.200
I mean, everybody says
that they won't but,

00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:18.520
you have to really, you know,

00:04:18.520 --> 00:04:19.320
get used to them.

00:04:19.320 --> 00:04:20.600
But I think, you know,

00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:22.200
that was the first time

00:04:22.200 --> 00:04:24.720
that I understood the immensity.

00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.280
And here we have this window

00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:30.240
into one of the

00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:32.640
major miracles of the world,

00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:36.520
like a place where
something is intact

00:04:36.520 --> 00:04:38.240
and fully operational.

00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:39.520
All of that

00:04:39.520 --> 00:04:40.240
came to me

00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.360
just when I was standing there.

00:05:02.440 --> 00:05:03.800
Delaware Bay is one

00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:05.160
of the most pristine estuaries

00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:05.920
on the East Coast.

00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:08.240
It's kind of the
best-kept secret.

00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:09.800
It's pretty rural.

00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:11.400
It's not overdeveloped.

00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:13.560
And we still have many ribbon

00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:15.200
beaches, these skinny

00:05:15.200 --> 00:05:16.080
strand beaches

00:05:16.080 --> 00:05:17.520
where crabs come up to spawn

00:05:17.520 --> 00:05:18.800
in Delaware and New Jersey.

00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.680
So we have a very robust

00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.000
and large crab population.

00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.760
I've been a wildlife biologist

00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:32.880
all my career, started

00:05:32.880 --> 00:05:34.160
when I was a young man

00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.320
in my early twenties.

00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:37.760
And for most of my career,

00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:40.360
I've been an endangered
species biologist.

00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:41.320
And

00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.120
I guess, you know, over time

00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:46.560
the welfare of the animals

00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.080
that I'm working on is,

00:05:48.080 --> 00:05:50.680
has become sort of inside me.

00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:54.440
I'm inspired to protect animals.

00:05:54.440 --> 00:05:55.520
That’s, that's what

00:05:55.520 --> 00:05:57.720
I've grown into in my career.

00:05:57.720 --> 00:05:58.800
Well, Larry

00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:00.200
is probably the loudest

00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:01.160
voice for wildlife

00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:02.320
you're ever going to find.

00:06:02.320 --> 00:06:04.480
I mean, he stands for wildlife

00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:06.200
and he stands for the Red knot.

00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:07.640
I mean, that’s,

00:06:07.640 --> 00:06:08.880
there's really not
much more to say

00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:09.600
than that.

00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:21.760
A shorebird, obviously,
is one that lives

00:06:21.760 --> 00:06:24.360
along coastal areas
or relies on marine

00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:25.720
or freshwater environments.

00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:27.280
Probably the least well known

00:06:27.280 --> 00:06:29.400
and maybe most misunderstood.

00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:31.440
They are hard to see.

00:06:31.440 --> 00:06:33.120
They are only on coasts

00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:34.360
and some of them are only here

00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:35.920
for a short period of time.

00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.320
So we get really
used to the birds

00:06:38.320 --> 00:06:39.640
that are at our bird feeders,

00:06:39.640 --> 00:06:40.400
and, you know,

00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:42.480
we admire chickadees
and cardinals.

00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:43.880
We're familiar with them.

00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:45.360
The warblers that come back

00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.120
are like these beautiful
little jewels

00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.200
you see in the spring

00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:49.360
and you hear them singing.

00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.080
So people are a lot
more familiar

00:06:51.080 --> 00:06:53.320
with and intimate with
those species.

00:06:53.320 --> 00:06:55.320
But shorebirds occupy

00:06:55.320 --> 00:06:57.680
the most inhospitable
places in the world.

00:06:58.080 --> 00:06:58.840
And pretty much

00:06:58.840 --> 00:07:00.520
throughout their whole
lifecycle they're

00:07:00.520 --> 00:07:02.080
in these really hostile places

00:07:02.080 --> 00:07:02.880
all the time.

00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:04.160
And it makes it hard

00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:07.280
for us to get to know them
as naturalists

00:07:07.280 --> 00:07:09.520
or people who are
just interested in birds

00:07:09.520 --> 00:07:10.800
and even biologists.

00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:12.080
They're tough to study.

00:07:12.080 --> 00:07:15.360
Every year from 1997,

00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.520
the shorebird populations
have gone down like that.

00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:20.880
There are only 25%,

00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:24.240
a quarter of the Knot here now,

00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.200
that there were when I first
came here in 1997.

00:07:27.200 --> 00:07:28.080
You know, it's an animal

00:07:28.080 --> 00:07:29.760
like every other animal

00:07:29.760 --> 00:07:32.080
and it deserves a voice,

00:07:32.080 --> 00:07:34.000
and that Mandy and I are here

00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:36.800
to give voice to these animals.

00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.320
But the Red knot is special

00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:41.320
because it creates a community

00:07:41.320 --> 00:07:43.480
and the community is wide.

00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:45.200
It spans the globe.

00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:47.520
And we really have,
you know, sometimes

00:07:47.520 --> 00:07:49.680
daily conversations with people

00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.720
from around the world

00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:52.040
who are also concerned

00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:54.200
about Red knots
and other shorebirds.

00:07:54.200 --> 00:07:56.520
So, I think that's
why it's important.

00:08:06.760 --> 00:08:08.240
What we know about Red knots,

00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:09.880
probably the longest
period of the year

00:08:09.880 --> 00:08:11.320
is spent on wintering grounds.

00:08:11.320 --> 00:08:13.360
So we've got a
pretty substantial

00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:14.160
number of Knots

00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.640
in Tierra del Fuego, Chile,

00:08:15.640 --> 00:08:18.200
northern Brazil, Florida
and the Caribbean.

00:08:18.200 --> 00:08:19.880
And they'll spend, I guess,

00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:21.680
two and a half to three
months of the year

00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:22.560
in those wintering areas.

00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.720
So those areas

00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:25.440
obviously become
pretty important.

00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:27.080
For six months, nine months
of the year,

00:08:27.080 --> 00:08:28.920
they're in a sort of
gray and white,

00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:31.880
drab, non-breeding
winter plumage

00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:33.760
so that they camouflage well

00:08:33.760 --> 00:08:35.920
with the mudflats and
shores of South America,

00:08:35.920 --> 00:08:38.040
and Central America,
and southern United States,

00:08:38.040 --> 00:08:39.440
where they spend the winter.

00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:43.360
But then come late February,
early April,

00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:44.240
they start to move.

00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:45.560
The Red knots from
Tierra del Fuego,

00:08:45.560 --> 00:08:47.680
will start to move up
through Argentina

00:08:47.680 --> 00:08:49.000
and Uruguay,

00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.680
cross over to northern Brazil,

00:08:50.680 --> 00:08:51.840
where they're trying to gain

00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:53.640
mass as they go

00:08:53.640 --> 00:08:55.360
to make the
trans-Atlantic flight.

00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:56.200
That's probably the most

00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:57.880
hazardous and longest leg.

00:08:59.400 --> 00:09:01.160
We know from geolocator work

00:09:01.160 --> 00:09:03.280
that some Knots will lift

00:09:03.280 --> 00:09:05.120
right off from Argentina,

00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:06.800
fly right across
the Amazon basin,

00:09:06.800 --> 00:09:08.240
right across the ocean,

00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:09.880
and wind up here
on Delaware Bay.

00:09:09.880 --> 00:09:11.240
Six days in the air,

00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:12.440
nonstop flight,

00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:14.360
if you can imagine
running a marathon

00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:15.920
for six days without sleeping.

00:09:15.920 --> 00:09:17.320
The fact that they can navigate

00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:18.840
so accurately, I mean,
we get these

00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:21.400
same birds came back
to this same place

00:09:21.400 --> 00:09:23.480
year after year after year.

00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:25.440
They know exactly
what they're doing.

00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:26.840
They'll land on Delaware Bay,

00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:29.120
where they're a very
depleted condition.

00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:30.720
They'll burn muscle mass
to get here.

00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:32.080
They've already
burned off their fat.

00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:33.240
Now they're into burning

00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:34.520
muscle and organ tissue.

00:09:34.520 --> 00:09:37.120
These birds are coming here

00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.880
as the furthest north place

00:09:38.880 --> 00:09:39.480
where they can get

00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:41.520
a really good supply of food

00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:43.280
before they get to their Arctic

00:09:43.280 --> 00:09:44.280
breeding grounds.

00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:51.280
Delaware Bay is a focal point

00:09:51.280 --> 00:09:52.720
and it has the world's

00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:53.840
largest population

00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.080
of spawning Horseshoe crabs.

00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.840
Surely in times

00:09:57.840 --> 00:09:58.760
before the coastal areas

00:09:58.760 --> 00:09:59.600
were very developed,

00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:01.480
there were a lot of back bays,

00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:02.720
there were probably
a lot of places

00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.240
where Horseshoe crabs
were spawning

00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.160
and maybe there were
a lot more places

00:10:06.160 --> 00:10:07.320
for shorebirds to stop over.

00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:08.600
So you didn't see these huge

00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:10.680
concentrations of crabs.

00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:12.320
Because you'll hear people say,

00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.200
“Well, we harvested crabs
in the millions

00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:16.440
"for fertilizer
in the late 1800s,

00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:17.400
"and no big deal."

00:10:17.400 --> 00:10:18.400
But in the 1800s,

00:10:18.400 --> 00:10:19.680
we didn't have bulkheads,

00:10:19.680 --> 00:10:21.440
we didn't have
coastal development.

00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:23.520
We had a lot of back bay areas,

00:10:23.520 --> 00:10:25.000
sandy spawning beaches.

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.720
All you need is a
little ribbon of sand

00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:27.720
and enough sand depth

00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.200
for those crabs to lay eggs

00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.200
and that, to have them hatch.

00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:34.240
For Red knots and
Horseshoe crabs,

00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.720
I live on the bay,

00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:37.120
and there's a lot of things

00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.880
going right in the
bay right now.

00:10:38.880 --> 00:10:41.200
You know, like, it's cleanest
it's ever been.

00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:43.400
A lot of the habitat
along the shore of

00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:45.000
the Delaware Bay
is publicly owned

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:47.360
and so therefore
permanently protected.

00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:48.400
But as a biologist,

00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:51.680
I know that this is
not about one thing.

00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:53.800
This is about a bunch of things

00:10:53.800 --> 00:10:54.920
that are going wrong.

00:10:54.920 --> 00:10:58.040
We knew from the
early 1980s onward

00:10:58.040 --> 00:10:59.360
that Delaware Bay
was very important

00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:00.320
for migratory shorebirds

00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:01.840
and they were coming
for the crab eggs.

00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.640
In the early 1990s, a burgeoning

00:11:05.640 --> 00:11:07.680
conch fishery came into being

00:11:07.680 --> 00:11:10.000
in the mid-Atlantic and
New England states.

00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:11.280
And then all of a sudden

00:11:11.280 --> 00:11:12.560
there was a rush to

00:11:12.560 --> 00:11:14.040
start harvesting crabs.

00:11:14.040 --> 00:11:17.200
So that early harvest went from,

00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.400
I think, 100,000 crabs
in 1991, 92,

00:11:20.760 --> 00:11:22.720
and by 1993, ’94, ’95,

00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.080
we were seeing

00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.240
crabs being harvested

00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:27.320
in the millions right off
of the beaches.

00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:29.160
We suspected that it might start

00:11:29.160 --> 00:11:31.080
causing an impact

00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:32.400
on the shorebirds, particularly

00:11:32.400 --> 00:11:32.880
because there were

00:11:32.880 --> 00:11:35.200
tractor trailers coming down
and parking

00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:36.680
and taking these crabs
off the beach.

00:11:36.680 --> 00:11:38.160
And crabs take ten years

00:11:38.160 --> 00:11:39.400
to sexually mature,

00:11:39.400 --> 00:11:41.040
so it's not like harvesting

00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:42.160
because harvesting implies

00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:43.160
putting something back.

00:11:43.160 --> 00:11:44.600
It's more like mining.

00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:45.480
You're mining

00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:47.160
this old age

00:11:47.160 --> 00:11:49.280
breeding population
off the beaches

00:11:49.280 --> 00:11:50.400
when they're spawning,

00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:51.800
it's a surefire way

00:11:51.800 --> 00:11:53.760
to deplete the population.

00:11:53.760 --> 00:11:57.480
We were absolutely
aghast at this

00:11:58.560 --> 00:11:59.640
incredible

00:11:59.640 --> 00:12:01.160
situation we found here

00:12:01.160 --> 00:12:02.720
all these shorebirds

00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.480
totally dependent on the
Horseshoe crabs eggs

00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:08.520
and trucks here, there
and everywhere,

00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:10.680
every beach,
people walking along,

00:12:10.680 --> 00:12:12.120
picking up

00:12:12.640 --> 00:12:14.840
egg-laying females

00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:16.200
in the breeding season,

00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.520
carting them away for $2 each.

00:12:18.520 --> 00:12:19.840
You know, $2,000 truckload

00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.200
picked up in an hour,

00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:24.080
taking them away for
slaughter, for use as bait.

00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:25.160
So we knew

00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:26.560
there was going to be
probably an issue

00:12:26.560 --> 00:12:27.080
with shorebirds,

00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:28.600
we just didn't know
how much of an issue

00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:29.560
it was going to be.

00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:53.720
In a sense,

00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:55.240
the Red knot has changed my life

00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:56.720
because I was an endangered

00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:59.120
species biologist
working on eagles

00:12:59.880 --> 00:13:00.520
and you know,

00:13:00.520 --> 00:13:03.080
the animals of our land here.

00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.280
But when I started
doing Red knots

00:13:05.280 --> 00:13:08.200
it was taking me
to South America

00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:09.320
and to the Arctic,

00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.760
and so it broadened
my understanding.

00:13:12.760 --> 00:13:14.320
And there was work
that we had to do

00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:16.240
to prove that the
problem was here.

00:13:17.800 --> 00:13:21.040
Our work is about
banding Red knots.

00:13:21.040 --> 00:13:22.560
It's about, it's counting them

00:13:22.560 --> 00:13:24.280
and doing all this science.

00:13:24.280 --> 00:13:28.200
But we do a lot of
catching of birds.

00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:29.320
But the main thing

00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:31.280
we're trying to
figure out is condition.

00:13:31.280 --> 00:13:34.560
So what we're focused
on entirely is,

00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:38.200
what’s the weights of the birds?

00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.520
There are many fascinations
of shorebirds,

00:13:42.520 --> 00:13:46.240
their docility in the hand,
their beauty,

00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:49.360
the ability to make these
huge migrations.

00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.320
I think they all thrill me.

00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:53.920
And that, I suppose, is just

00:13:53.920 --> 00:13:56.560
a contributor to why
so many of us

00:13:56.560 --> 00:13:59.080
worldwide are so concerned

00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:00.520
about the problem here

00:14:00.520 --> 00:14:02.680
that shorebird enthusiasts
from around

00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:04.560
the world are prepared
to come each year

00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:06.440
to help in the studies

00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:07.720
that will, in the long term,

00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:09.440
help save these shorebirds

00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:11.400
and the Red knot in particular.

00:14:12.880 --> 00:14:15.880
We've come out this
morning to capture

00:14:15.880 --> 00:14:18.400
Red knots with our cannon net.

00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:23.720
I think it's important for
people to understand

00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:26.160
that we can't help the birds

00:14:26.160 --> 00:14:28.160
unless we collect this data.

00:14:28.160 --> 00:14:30.320
We need to know their condition.

00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:31.880
If we didn't collect the data

00:14:31.880 --> 00:14:34.880
that we collected over
the last 15 years,

00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:36.720
we would have never been able

00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.120
to achieve the conservation

00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.600
that we have at this point.

00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:41.520
So this data is vital

00:14:41.520 --> 00:14:43.080
and it's taken seriously

00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:44.880
throughout the scientific world.

00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:46.480
It's well collected,

00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.400
and we do our best to minimize

00:14:48.400 --> 00:14:50.200
the impact on birds.

00:14:55.560 --> 00:14:57.000
The first thing we'll do,

00:14:57.000 --> 00:14:57.880
the net goes out,

00:14:57.880 --> 00:14:59.400
goes out and over the birds.

00:14:59.400 --> 00:15:00.360
The birds will be in the net

00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:01.840
flapping and jumping.

00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:03.200
We take that green covering

00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:04.080
material over there

00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:05.360
and I'm going to
assign two people

00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.880
to take those bolts
of fabric down.

00:15:07.880 --> 00:15:09.000
Once we secure the net,

00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:10.080
we’ll lay that out over

00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:11.560
top of the birds to
settle them down.

00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:13.200
And they'll sit down
under the netting

00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.520
and become more relaxed.

00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.360
Then we get these boxes.

00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.120
These are carrying boxes.

00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:20.400
The birds go inside.

00:15:20.400 --> 00:15:23.480
In each box, there's a piece
of carpet in the bottom.

00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:24.240
We put that in there

00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:25.520
so the birds can be able

00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:26.320
to stand on the box

00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:27.560
without slipping around.

00:15:27.560 --> 00:15:28.600
So when you run out
to the beach,

00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:30.440
you probably take them like this

00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:31.240
and you'll get out there

00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.000
and the carpet will
have fallen down.

00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:33.600
First thing you want to do

00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:34.560
is put the box down.

00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:35.880
Just make sure the carpet's

00:15:35.880 --> 00:15:37.320
in there correctly. Okay?

00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:39.120
So if you take an empty
box to someone

00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:40.840
and they say,
"I have a Sanderling,"

00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:42.200
and you have an empty box,

00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:44.080
yours is now a Sanderling box.

00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.720
We want to keep each
species separate

00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:47.640
if we catch more than Sanderling

00:15:47.640 --> 00:15:48.520
or more than Turnstone

00:15:48.520 --> 00:15:49.920
or more than Red knot.

00:15:49.920 --> 00:15:52.320
Okay, so Josh
is at Norbury’s Creek?

00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:55.200
He's on his way there right now.

00:15:55.520 --> 00:15:56.640
Okay, as soon as he gets there,

00:15:56.640 --> 00:15:58.760
have him push whatever

00:15:58.760 --> 00:16:00.440
shorebirds are up there.

00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:02.560
We don't want the gulls,
of course.

00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:04.720
And then once that's done,

00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:06.280
you're going to start a twinkle

00:16:06.280 --> 00:16:07.720
from your end.

00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:09.880
Roger that.

00:16:09.880 --> 00:16:13.120
Start out at modest pace
and see what

00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:15.160
the birds do, if they
head north or south.

00:16:15.880 --> 00:16:16.920
Roger that.

00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:20.560
We got a small nucleus
in front of the net

00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:21.120
right now,

00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:26.640
thinly scattered
at the net line.

00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.360
We're getting good waves now.

00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.080
So Ben’s moved birds closer.

00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:34.360
We have birds thicker in the

00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:35.320
front of the net.

00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.360
They're just now

00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.880
starting to enter
the eight yard mark.

00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:41.600
Waves are pushing

00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.400
birds up a little higher.

00:16:44.400 --> 00:16:45.320
We might have to wait

00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.000
for a little more tide.

00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:47.920
That's Larry's choice,

00:16:47.920 --> 00:16:50.480
that he relies on me
to push the button.

00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:52.880
Um, there have been occasions

00:16:52.880 --> 00:16:53.680
when I've gone to sleep,

00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:55.240
but I've woken up in time.

00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:57.360
Because you might wait
for two, three hours.

00:16:58.880 --> 00:17:02.400
An hour wait is more common.

00:17:02.400 --> 00:17:04.400
And then things have
got to go right.

00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:05.880
If you got somebody at Cook
you might want

00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:07.160
to get them to push them up.

00:17:08.840 --> 00:17:09.640
Yea, I want you to walk

00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:11.760
south Gwen, that’s great.

00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:16.600
Yeah.

00:17:16.600 --> 00:17:21.360
Do we have a Turnstone
in danger there?

00:17:23.520 --> 00:17:26.360
But I think they're
just out of reach.

00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:36.080
Three, two, one, fire.

00:17:54.800 --> 00:17:58.080
Unwrap the cover.

00:18:08.520 --> 00:18:10.480
- Knot.
- Two Knot.

00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:12.520
Turnstone box anywhere?

00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:13.880
Right here.

00:18:14.320 --> 00:18:15.520
I got a Knot.

00:18:19.120 --> 00:18:20.200
Turnstone.

00:18:21.360 --> 00:18:22.640
I've been interested in birds

00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:23.760
ever since I was hatched,

00:18:23.760 --> 00:18:25.200
and that was 75 years ago.

00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:26.440
Turnstone!

00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:28.480
Turnstone!

00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.440
I've been interested

00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.880
particularly in shorebirds

00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:33.360
since I was about 13 or 14.

00:18:33.600 --> 00:18:34.320
Funnily enough,

00:18:34.320 --> 00:18:35.920
they're one of the
last groups of birds

00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:37.280
I ever became familiar with.

00:18:37.280 --> 00:18:39.360
But I think I was fascinated

00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:41.160
by the fact that they migrated

00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:43.080
such huge distances.

00:18:43.080 --> 00:18:44.760
I was also challenged
by the fact

00:18:44.760 --> 00:18:46.480
that no one knew
anything about them

00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:48.520
because no one knew how to catch

00:18:48.520 --> 00:18:49.360
and band them and mark them

00:18:49.360 --> 00:18:51.880
to make studies
of their migrations.

00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:52.520
And so

00:18:52.520 --> 00:18:54.680
my lifetime greatest interest,

00:18:54.680 --> 00:18:56.080
entirely as a hobby,

00:18:56.080 --> 00:18:59.400
as a volunteer,
not my profession.

00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:09.360
When you look at the
aerial survey numbers,

00:19:09.360 --> 00:19:10.800
you see a lot of up and down.

00:19:10.800 --> 00:19:12.280
There's a lot of variability
in those numbers,

00:19:12.280 --> 00:19:13.720
especially in the early years--

00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:14.920
90,000 one year,

00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.400
50,000 the next year,
100,000 next year.

00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:19.000
The counts on Delaware Bay

00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:20.640
are a relative abundance count.

00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:22.000
Every single year

00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:22.840
you're counting the birds

00:19:22.840 --> 00:19:23.520
over time,

00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:24.720
it's the same observer

00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:26.080
with the same method,

00:19:26.080 --> 00:19:27.720
so that you get an
idea of the trend

00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:29.000
in those numbers.

00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:31.920
Well, we know from that
early 1986 period

00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.120
we documented 90,000 to 100,000

00:19:35.120 --> 00:19:36.200
Red knots on the bay,

00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:38.520
and over time, especially
since the late '90s,

00:19:38.520 --> 00:19:42.200
we've seen those numbers
decline fairly steadily.

00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:44.720
And they've remained very low.

00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:46.200
And so far stable,

00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:50.320
but still very low, about
12,000 or 13,000 birds.

00:19:50.320 --> 00:19:53.160
We want to know
what weight birds are

00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:54.560
when they come in

00:19:54.560 --> 00:19:57.080
and what weight they are
when they leave.

00:19:57.080 --> 00:19:57.760
And so

00:19:57.760 --> 00:20:00.440
then we could estimate
at the end, well,

00:20:00.800 --> 00:20:01.520
we know

00:20:01.520 --> 00:20:02.720
20% of the birds

00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.200
made it off in
good shape, or 80%.

00:20:05.520 --> 00:20:06.600
That's the key thing.

00:20:06.600 --> 00:20:07.680
We know that birds

00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.920
that don't gain sufficient mass
don't survive as well.

00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:12.280
Couple that with the counts

00:20:12.280 --> 00:20:13.200
done on the wintering areas

00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.680
which are the most definitive.

00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:15.680
Those birds are in place,

00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:16.360
they're staying there

00:20:16.360 --> 00:20:17.640
and they can be counted.

00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:19.920
So we have a good sense
of Tierra del Fuego

00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.040
and we're getting a handle

00:20:21.040 --> 00:20:22.640
on those other wintering areas

00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:23.800
that are giving us

00:20:23.800 --> 00:20:25.440
more definitive information.

00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:27.400
So we've got several different

00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:28.840
data sets that we can use

00:20:28.840 --> 00:20:30.560
to look at to try and understand

00:20:30.560 --> 00:20:32.120
what that real number is

00:20:32.120 --> 00:20:34.080
and if the declines are real.

00:20:34.080 --> 00:20:36.120
We know from the wintering area,

00:20:36.120 --> 00:20:37.320
the biggest wintering area

00:20:37.320 --> 00:20:37.800
where we had

00:20:37.800 --> 00:20:39.000
the biggest number of Red knots,

00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:40.720
that those declines are real.

00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:42.920
The speed at which the Red knots

00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:44.280
have been declining,

00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:46.680
have declined, surprised us all.

00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:50.520
We and our team
in Tierra del Fuego

00:20:50.520 --> 00:20:51.560
watched it happening.

00:20:51.560 --> 00:20:52.720
We saw

00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:56.520
once abundant fall to
much smaller populations,

00:20:56.520 --> 00:21:01.080
an 80% decrease in ten years.

00:21:01.080 --> 00:21:02.360
It's one of the most endangered

00:21:02.360 --> 00:21:03.120
birds in the world.

00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:05.760
It has suffered worse
population declines

00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.600
in the last ten years,

00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:10.240
faster declines than any
other bird that's known.

00:21:10.520 --> 00:21:13.360
So there's this
fascinating science,

00:21:13.360 --> 00:21:15.800
this fascinating charisma
that these birds have,

00:21:15.800 --> 00:21:18.640
balanced with this terrible
conservation problem.

00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:21.640
The catching and banding studies

00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.000
have shown the reasons
for that decline.

00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:27.720
The major cause

00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:29.840
was that the mortality rate

00:21:29.840 --> 00:21:30.520
of these birds,

00:21:30.520 --> 00:21:32.880
which is normally
about 15% a year,

00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.080
that's typical for
medium and larger-sized

00:21:35.080 --> 00:21:37.040
shorebirds the world over,

00:21:37.040 --> 00:21:39.800
85% survive each year.

00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:43.800
But suddenly that dropped
to something like

00:21:43.800 --> 00:21:46.120
50% to 60%, in other words

00:21:46.120 --> 00:21:48.360
it was a huge increase,
a doubling

00:21:48.360 --> 00:21:51.360
or tripling of the mortality
rate each year.

00:21:51.360 --> 00:21:52.320
And that was because

00:21:52.320 --> 00:21:54.040
the birds were coming here

00:21:54.040 --> 00:21:55.640
getting insufficient food

00:21:55.640 --> 00:21:57.200
to embark on their flight

00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:58.640
up to the Arctic,

00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:00.360
not making it successfully

00:22:00.360 --> 00:22:02.120
or getting up there
in such poor condition

00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:03.120
that they succumbed

00:22:03.120 --> 00:22:05.720
in the relatively
foodless Arctic.

00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:08.360
I set out years and years
and years ago to

00:22:08.360 --> 00:22:11.160
canon net the shorebirds
in New Zealand,

00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.360
and I actually failed in the end

00:22:13.360 --> 00:22:14.800
because in those days

00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:17.280
all we had were metal
bands to put on the birds.

00:22:17.280 --> 00:22:19.560
So the target was
to catch enough,

00:22:19.560 --> 00:22:20.880
Bar-tailed Godwits
and Red knots,

00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:23.040
Red knots similar to here

00:22:23.040 --> 00:22:25.440
but a separate subspecies,

00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:27.640
to be able to study
them over time.

00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:29.800
And with only metal bands

00:22:29.800 --> 00:22:30.880
it meant you had to catch

00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:32.600
and re-catch and re-catch.

00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:35.320
We can measure the survival rate

00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:37.880
either by the recapture of birds

00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:39.520
we banded in previous years

00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:41.360
or something that we've done

00:22:41.360 --> 00:22:44.720
which is even better
than that since 2003,

00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:46.920
which is to put on
the leg of the bird

00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.440
not just a metal band
with a number,

00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.520
but a larger plastic flag

00:22:51.520 --> 00:22:53.240
with an engraved thing on it.

00:22:53.240 --> 00:22:57.440
It may say ABC, or 1-2-3, or A-4-7

00:22:57.440 --> 00:22:58.840
or whatever it might be.

00:22:58.840 --> 00:23:00.520
So it's going to be…

00:23:01.360 --> 00:23:02.760
Maya?

00:23:02.760 --> 00:23:06.720
Flag Lime, 4-P-E, Peter Egbert…

00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:09.560
But then in came

00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:11.200
the little flags on the legs

00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:12.400
that made a huge difference.

00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.640
Blue is coming from Brazil,

00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:19.040
orange is Argentina,

00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:22.440
red is Chile,

00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:23.800
and there's two
different greens.

00:23:23.800 --> 00:23:25.360
There's a lime and
a regular green.

00:23:25.360 --> 00:23:26.200
That's USA.

00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:27.880
And then we also have
white from Canada.

00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:29.040
So we can really see where

00:23:29.040 --> 00:23:30.360
these birds are coming from.

00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:33.200
Now I make all the
alphanumeric flags

00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:34.080
for New Zealand

00:23:34.080 --> 00:23:35.920
as well as making them
all when we get here.

00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.680
That means that we
can see that bird

00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:38.800
with a telescope

00:23:38.800 --> 00:23:41.000
running around on the
shore feeding here,

00:23:41.280 --> 00:23:42.200
and in fact elsewhere

00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:43.520
in the flyway as well,

00:23:43.520 --> 00:23:45.360
and know that that bird
is still alive

00:23:45.360 --> 00:23:46.720
and know where it is.

00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.560
Now you can compute that data

00:23:48.560 --> 00:23:50.280
to measure survival rate.

00:23:50.280 --> 00:23:51.520
All the indications are,

00:23:51.520 --> 00:23:52.760
within the last three or four years,

00:23:52.760 --> 00:23:57.360
the survival rate has
now improved back

00:23:57.360 --> 00:23:59.120
more towards the level it was.

00:23:59.120 --> 00:24:00.520
Now, one of the reasons for

00:24:00.520 --> 00:24:01.640
that is there’s only a quarter of

00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:05.080
the number of birds to
feed on Delaware Bay.

00:24:05.080 --> 00:24:06.880
So the reduced egg resources

00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:08.280
from the overharvesting

00:24:08.280 --> 00:24:09.360
of Horseshoe crabs

00:24:09.360 --> 00:24:12.600
has reduced the amount
of food available,

00:24:13.080 --> 00:24:15.280
but the population is reduced

00:24:15.280 --> 00:24:16.480
to balance that out.

00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:19.160
If we don't resolve
this issue of

00:24:19.160 --> 00:24:20.080
getting the birds up

00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:22.520
to appropriate weight
at Delaware Bay,

00:24:22.520 --> 00:24:24.880
then they're not
going to make it.

00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:26.680
All the other problems

00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:28.880
facing the birds,
tropical storms

00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:31.000
and everything else,

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:34.560
will gradually eat away
at what's left.

00:24:34.560 --> 00:24:37.120
And so gradually the bird

00:24:37.120 --> 00:24:39.720
will become extinct.

00:24:50.840 --> 00:24:53.120
The Delaware Bay has a lot
of problems right now.

00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:55.840
Horseshoe crab is one species

00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:57.200
that's being over-harvested,

00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:58.240
and it's a keystone.

00:24:58.240 --> 00:24:59.360
And I think that's
what's important

00:24:59.360 --> 00:25:00.560
to keep in mind about
Horseshoe crabs.

00:25:00.560 --> 00:25:01.400
It's not just shorebirds

00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:02.320
relying on the eggs

00:25:02.320 --> 00:25:03.720
and larva of Horseshoe crabs.

00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:05.200
It's small fish

00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.720
that are being born
in these marshes.

00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:09.720
This is a nursery ground
for many species

00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:11.600
of commercially valuable fish.

00:25:11.600 --> 00:25:13.240
So the small fish are relying

00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:14.520
on those eggs and larva.

00:25:14.520 --> 00:25:16.080
There's all kinds
of marine animals

00:25:16.080 --> 00:25:18.120
eating this big
infusion of protein

00:25:18.120 --> 00:25:20.360
and fat coming into the
system every spring.

00:25:20.360 --> 00:25:21.680
Well, the crab eggs decline

00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.840
because there's less breeders.

00:25:24.840 --> 00:25:25.880
The breeders decline

00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:28.440
because, initially because
of the over-harvest.

00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:30.600
So we had,

00:25:30.600 --> 00:25:31.760
back in the '80s,

00:25:31.760 --> 00:25:33.840
the beaches were
cobbled with crabs.

00:25:33.840 --> 00:25:35.720
So you couldn't
walk on the beach

00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:37.120
without hitting a crab.

00:25:37.120 --> 00:25:39.320
So there was a super
abundance of crabs,

00:25:39.320 --> 00:25:40.520
which is the key thing,

00:25:40.520 --> 00:25:43.400
because you need
so many crabs breeding

00:25:43.840 --> 00:25:46.080
that one crab will dig up

00:25:46.080 --> 00:25:47.840
the eggs laid by another crab.

00:25:47.840 --> 00:25:49.880
So that makes it available
to shorebirds.

00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.080
So what worked was
the overabundance,

00:25:52.080 --> 00:25:53.520
this is the only place
in the world

00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:55.080
that it's like this.

00:25:55.080 --> 00:25:57.480
And then as the fishermen
found value

00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:58.720
in the crab,

00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:01.320
then very quickly it went down.

00:26:01.320 --> 00:26:04.360
All of a sudden we were
in a crisis mode.

00:26:04.360 --> 00:26:05.720
But when we started,

00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:07.120
it just didn't seem possible

00:26:07.120 --> 00:26:08.640
that you could over-harvest
the crab.

00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.080
There were just so many.

00:26:10.080 --> 00:26:11.880
The agencies that
were responsible

00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:14.000
for managing the crab,

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.240
they should have
stopped the harvest

00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:17.560
and figure out

00:26:17.560 --> 00:26:19.320
how to properly regulate it

00:26:19.320 --> 00:26:20.640
and then reopen it again.

00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:21.320
They've done that

00:26:21.320 --> 00:26:22.880
with other species,

00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.240
like the Striped bass
was over-harvested

00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:26.080
and then

00:26:26.080 --> 00:26:27.840
because there were
sportsmen involved

00:26:27.840 --> 00:26:29.400
and they're a powerful group,

00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:30.920
they stopped the harvest

00:26:30.920 --> 00:26:32.320
and then they rebuilt it

00:26:32.320 --> 00:26:33.560
and then they re-instituted

00:26:33.560 --> 00:26:35.360
new regulations.

00:26:35.360 --> 00:26:37.120
And now the Striped bass
is abundant

00:26:37.120 --> 00:26:38.600
and everybody's happy with it.

00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:40.080
I mean, with the
Horseshoe crabs,

00:26:40.080 --> 00:26:42.360
there's nobody
politically important,

00:26:42.360 --> 00:26:44.360
and so they— at least to them.

00:26:44.840 --> 00:26:46.880
And so they didn't
close the harvest

00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:47.800
and try to figure it out,

00:26:47.800 --> 00:26:50.480
they just sort of
tried to figure it out

00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:52.360
as they were going along,

00:26:52.360 --> 00:26:54.320
fighting every implication

00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:56.440
that there was something wrong.

00:26:56.440 --> 00:26:57.800
Everything that we said

00:26:57.800 --> 00:26:59.640
in 1997 was right.

00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:02.000
We predicted that
this would happen.

00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.760
We predicted the shorebirds
would take a fall,

00:27:04.760 --> 00:27:06.360
and they did.

00:27:06.360 --> 00:27:10.040
But the agencies,
the Atlantic States

00:27:10.040 --> 00:27:11.520
Marine Fisheries Commission,

00:27:11.520 --> 00:27:16.080
the group that regulates
harvest in this area,

00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:18.520
decided to go with
this other approach

00:27:18.520 --> 00:27:19.920
which is basically

00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:22.400
protecting the interests
of the fishermen

00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:24.720
and hope for the best
with the birds.

00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:26.600
Now we're in this place where

00:27:26.600 --> 00:27:28.280
there isn't really enough crabs

00:27:28.280 --> 00:27:29.360
to harvest anymore

00:27:29.360 --> 00:27:30.880
because the crabs have been

00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:31.800
over-harvested.

00:27:31.800 --> 00:27:33.360
They haven't recovered.

00:27:33.360 --> 00:27:34.520
There's not enough crabs

00:27:34.520 --> 00:27:36.840
to make the fishermen
happy anymore.

00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:37.800
There’s not enough crabs

00:27:37.800 --> 00:27:38.880
to support

00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.720
a fully recovered shorebird
population.

00:27:42.040 --> 00:27:42.800
I would argue that

00:27:42.800 --> 00:27:43.920
probably all the states

00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:45.760
should have a ban on harvest for
a while

00:27:45.760 --> 00:27:47.360
till the population can recover.

00:27:47.360 --> 00:27:48.880
We don't believe it's endangered

00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:50.760
or on the brink of collapse.

00:27:50.760 --> 00:27:52.200
You'll talk to those same
fishermen

00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:54.480
and they'll say, “Well, there's
plenty of crabs on the beach.

00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:56.400
“We see crab spawning
all over the place.

00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:58.360
“How come we have this ban?”

00:27:58.360 --> 00:28:00.280
And the answer is,

00:28:00.280 --> 00:28:02.040
there are crabs spawning here

00:28:02.040 --> 00:28:03.920
and a lot of places around
Delaware Bay,

00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:05.200
and they are laying eggs

00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:06.240
and they're laying enough eggs

00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:08.400
to make the next generation
of crabs.

00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.920
But they're not laying enough

00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:12.080
so that there's plenty in
the sand

00:28:12.080 --> 00:28:13.520
to become new crabs,

00:28:13.520 --> 00:28:14.920
and then there's plenty being
dug up

00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:15.880
and brought to the surface

00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:17.440
to be food for shorebirds.

00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:17.880
Right now,

00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:20.080
we're missing that surface
component.

00:28:20.080 --> 00:28:21.680
Now New Jersey has a moratorium.

00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:23.640
Delaware has a voluntary

00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.200
hand-harvest after spawning
season

00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:27.520
of males only.

00:28:27.520 --> 00:28:29.240
It's a very tight fishery,

00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:31.080
but you're not going to
find that elsewhere.

00:28:31.080 --> 00:28:33.720
There’s always a danger that

00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:35.440
restrictions on Horseshoe crab

00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:37.120
harvesting will be lifted
too soon.

00:28:37.120 --> 00:28:40.880
Hopefully the supply of eggs
will remain

00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:41.560
in balance

00:28:41.560 --> 00:28:44.200
or exceed the requirements
of the shorebirds.

00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:45.160
But this is a story

00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:46.880
that's been unfolding over a
longer time

00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.680
period than just the
last decade.

00:28:58.120 --> 00:28:59.360
My students are behind me

00:28:59.360 --> 00:29:00.440
counting Horseshoe crab eggs

00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:01.160
as they've been doing

00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:02.440
for the past three weeks.

00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:03.560
When you think about everything

00:29:03.560 --> 00:29:05.080
that's happening in the bay,

00:29:05.080 --> 00:29:06.520
this is really the currency,

00:29:06.520 --> 00:29:07.720
the ecological currency

00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:09.920
that matters, is the eggs on the
bay.

00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:12.120
Nothing else really matters
to the birds.

00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:13.520
You know, you can have
shifts in habitat,

00:29:13.520 --> 00:29:17.080
you can have predation
or you can have gulls,

00:29:17.080 --> 00:29:18.880
you can have things like that,
competitors.

00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.680
But really what matters to
the birds

00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:21.680
the most is how fast

00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:22.440
can they put on weight

00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:23.440
and get to the Arctic.

00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.080
And that is primarily a function

00:29:25.080 --> 00:29:25.720
of how many eggs

00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:27.240
there are on the beaches

00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:29.880
and how available they are to
the birds.

00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:30.480
What we do is

00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:32.720
we go out to each beach at
low tide.

00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:34.880
We take 20 core samples in
each lane,

00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:36.600
so that’s approximately

00:29:36.600 --> 00:29:39.200
one of core sample per square
meter of

00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:40.360
beach that we're sampling.

00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.400
And we do this randomly.

00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:46.240
And then what we do is

00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.360
we put the samples
into Ziploc baggies,

00:29:48.360 --> 00:29:50.480
then we bring them back to
the house

00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.000
where we will first go through

00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.880
and put them through a series
of sieves.

00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:57.720
And the Horseshoe crab

00:29:57.720 --> 00:29:58.640
eggs are approximately

00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:00.760
between two and three
millimeters,

00:30:00.760 --> 00:30:02.640
so that keeps all of our eggs

00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:04.720
inside our last sieve.

00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:07.200
We then take the sand that's

00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:08.120
left in the last sieve

00:30:08.120 --> 00:30:10.680
and put it into one of
our counting trays,

00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:14.520
and we go through the entire
sample

00:30:14.520 --> 00:30:15.800
by hand

00:30:15.800 --> 00:30:17.520
and count each of the little

00:30:17.520 --> 00:30:19.240
Horseshoe crab eggs
that are in it.

00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:20.640
A Red knot needs to eat

00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:24.080
21,000 eggs per day for
approximately

00:30:24.080 --> 00:30:25.680
2 to 3 weeks,

00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:27.200
depending on where it's feeding.

00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:27.800
And in order

00:30:27.800 --> 00:30:29.640
for that to happen efficiently,

00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:30.520
for the bird to be able

00:30:30.520 --> 00:30:32.440
to find their food in 6 hours

00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:33.840
or to be able to find

00:30:33.840 --> 00:30:35.320
enough food in two weeks,

00:30:35.320 --> 00:30:35.880
there needs to be

00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:37.520
approximately 200,000 eggs

00:30:37.520 --> 00:30:39.520
per square meter on the beaches.

00:30:39.520 --> 00:30:40.880
And we're currently

00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:45.240
between 3000 and 5000
for a 10 year average.

00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:11.800
Mispillion Harbor has been
incredibly important

00:31:11.800 --> 00:31:13.320
for the conservation

00:31:13.320 --> 00:31:15.640
of Horseshoe crabs and
shorebirds

00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:17.760
because it's one of the
only sites in Delaware Bay

00:31:17.760 --> 00:31:20.080
that's completely protected
on all sides.

00:31:20.440 --> 00:31:21.760
This allows Horseshoe crabs

00:31:21.760 --> 00:31:22.720
to spawn under

00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.920
almost any weather conditions.

00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:26.160
During some years,

00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:29.200
we'll have 80% to 90% of the
entire Rufa Red knot

00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.640
population on one beach
here in Mispillion Harbor.

00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:35.080
Now, Mispillion Harbor is
the site

00:31:35.080 --> 00:31:37.400
that has the highest density

00:31:37.400 --> 00:31:39.200
of Horseshoe crab eggs.

00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:41.520
On any given year,
we can have an average number

00:31:41.520 --> 00:31:44.920
of Horseshoe crab eggs exceeding
750,000

00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:46.760
eggs per meter squared,

00:31:46.760 --> 00:31:48.200
sometimes over a million eggs

00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:50.360
per meter squared
on these beaches.

00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:52.000
As you can see,

00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:52.880
we probably have

00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:54.520
20,000, 30,000 birds

00:31:54.520 --> 00:31:57.680
on this one beach right now
and probably

00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:01.840
2000 or 3000 Red knot, so it's

00:32:01.840 --> 00:32:03.840
a pretty spectacular sight.

00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:08.840
My goal is really to ensure

00:32:08.840 --> 00:32:10.360
that these these birds,

00:32:10.360 --> 00:32:11.120
when they're arriving

00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:12.240
from South America,

00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:13.600
that they have a place to stay

00:32:13.600 --> 00:32:16.480
to have enough food to put on
the weight

00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:17.920
that they need to get to the
Arctic.

00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:18.880
We need this here

00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.360
until, until, you know,

00:32:21.360 --> 00:32:23.120
Horseshoe crabs are
spawning at higher egg

00:32:23.120 --> 00:32:24.080
densities elsewhere

00:32:24.080 --> 00:32:26.880
so that birds have other places
to go.

00:32:28.600 --> 00:32:30.200
The birds are coming from here,

00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:31.640
then we can set it

00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:33.080
perpendicular to the shoreline

00:32:33.080 --> 00:32:35.640
and we'll get them into place.

00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:37.400
Hey, Pablo, come on back
alright, we’ll need

00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:38.920
some help to set up the net.

00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:56.800
You may want to bring it in
just a tad more.

00:32:56.800 --> 00:32:58.200
It's always best to catch them

00:32:58.200 --> 00:32:59.200
when they're really hungry,

00:32:59.200 --> 00:32:59.840
then they're a little bit

00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:02.000
distracted by hunger.

00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:04.200
Not much different than,
than humans

00:33:04.200 --> 00:33:06.800
when they're ready to chow down.

00:33:06.800 --> 00:33:08.760
We're trying to monitor

00:33:08.760 --> 00:33:11.080
the physical condition of birds

00:33:11.080 --> 00:33:12.880
as they pass through
Delaware Bay,

00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:14.080
and we're working

00:33:14.080 --> 00:33:16.360
primarily with four species:

00:33:16.360 --> 00:33:22.880
Semipalmated sandpipers,

00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:29.520
Least sandpipers,

00:33:32.520 --> 00:33:36.880
Dunlins,

00:33:39.880 --> 00:33:44.360
and Short-billed Dowitchers.

00:33:47.120 --> 00:33:48.400
Those species have not received

00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:50.200
as much attention as the
Red knot,

00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:51.680
and for good reason.

00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:53.200
They're probably a lot more

00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:54.080
of those species

00:33:54.080 --> 00:33:55.520
around than there are of
Red knot.

00:33:55.520 --> 00:33:57.360
But they are a good

00:33:57.360 --> 00:33:59.600
index of the health of
Delaware Bay.

00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:02.040
And Semipalmated sandpiper

00:34:02.040 --> 00:34:03.080
in particular has shown

00:34:03.080 --> 00:34:04.720
some very dramatic declines

00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:06.520
over the last 15 years

00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:08.560
on the order of 40% to 50%.

00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.240
So we're concerned about that
species.

00:34:11.240 --> 00:34:12.120
We don't want that

00:34:12.120 --> 00:34:13.840
to be the next Red knot.

00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:16.160
And they're feeding to
gain enough weight

00:34:16.160 --> 00:34:17.320
to make the final leg

00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:19.200
of their journey to the
breeding grounds.

00:34:19.200 --> 00:34:22.760
Semipalmated sandpipers were
reaching,

00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:25.080
on average, higher weights

00:34:25.080 --> 00:34:26.920
during the 3 to 4 years

00:34:26.920 --> 00:34:28.520
that we were working in the
mid ’90s

00:34:28.520 --> 00:34:29.720
than they are now.

00:34:29.720 --> 00:34:31.400
They were gaining weight more
quickly,

00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.640
so they could arrive later
in the season, later in May,

00:34:34.640 --> 00:34:36.720
and then expect to gain enough
weight

00:34:36.720 --> 00:34:38.560
to make a successful migration

00:34:38.560 --> 00:34:40.800
to the sub-Arctic and
breed successfully.

00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:43.000
Well Dave will position himself

00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:46.000
where he can see the catch area

00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:49.720
when we stretch the net
initially.

00:34:49.720 --> 00:34:52.440
We actually mark the corners,

00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:54.600
so that's where the net will fly

00:34:54.600 --> 00:34:55.720
and end up.

00:34:56.160 --> 00:34:58.360
He'll radio me.

00:34:58.360 --> 00:35:01.000
It's basically just “1, 2,
3,”

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:02.280
I pull on 3.

00:35:11.880 --> 00:35:12.680
Hey Pablo,

00:35:12.680 --> 00:35:14.760
can you see if you can

00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:17.800
creep in a little bit closer and
see if

00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:21.400
you can move just a few
birds towards me?

00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:28.720
You have any standing on
the net?

00:35:28.720 --> 00:35:29.200
Yeah.

00:35:29.200 --> 00:35:31.160
There's still two or three

00:35:31.160 --> 00:35:33.640
that are right on the net.

00:35:33.640 --> 00:35:35.520
There aren't really any other
places

00:35:35.520 --> 00:35:37.600
like Delaware Bay en route.

00:35:37.600 --> 00:35:38.920
Although some birds may

00:35:38.920 --> 00:35:40.520
stop in New England,

00:35:40.520 --> 00:35:41.880
we think the majority of them

00:35:41.880 --> 00:35:42.880
are flying nonstop

00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:43.920
to the breeding grounds

00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:46.720
in Hudson Bay and South Baffin
Island.

00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:48.040
Okay, Calvin.

00:35:48.040 --> 00:35:50.880
1, 2, 3.

00:35:53.120 --> 00:35:53.880
We're certain

00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:54.920
that birds would rather

00:35:54.920 --> 00:35:56.440
not be caught in our nets.

00:35:56.440 --> 00:35:57.320
We feel that

00:35:57.320 --> 00:35:59.520
the temporary inconvenience

00:35:59.520 --> 00:36:01.480
is really important to

00:36:01.480 --> 00:36:03.880
monitor the health of these
shorebird populations

00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:05.080
throughout the hemisphere.

00:36:05.080 --> 00:36:06.520
This is really an important
place,

00:36:06.520 --> 00:36:07.360
Delaware Bay.

00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:09.360
And these birds are sort of the

00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:11.080
canary in the coal mine

00:36:11.080 --> 00:36:12.920
as far as the health of Delaware
Bay.

00:36:12.920 --> 00:36:15.920
It's important to a lot of other
animals

00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:18.720
besides the birds, turtles, fish

00:36:19.040 --> 00:36:20.480
and a whole host of other
animals

00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:22.760
that use the bay and use
the crab eggs

00:36:22.760 --> 00:36:24.520
that are laid during the spring

00:36:24.520 --> 00:36:25.880
spawning season.

00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:27.240
We're sort of looking

00:36:27.240 --> 00:36:29.720
at sort of the health
of crab populations

00:36:29.720 --> 00:36:31.680
through the lens of the,
of the birds

00:36:31.680 --> 00:36:33.080
that we work with.

00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:43.920
Working with my wife

00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:46.080
in, you know, this job,

00:36:46.840 --> 00:36:48.720
there's obviously

00:36:48.720 --> 00:36:49.720
all the pitfalls

00:36:49.720 --> 00:36:51.320
that any husband and wife

00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:52.320
would recognize

00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:54.520
working with their spouse.

00:36:54.520 --> 00:36:56.160
But often we sit around and talk

00:36:56.160 --> 00:36:58.360
about how difficult this work
is and,

00:36:58.360 --> 00:36:58.680
you know,

00:36:58.680 --> 00:36:59.320
when do we think

00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:00.440
we're ever going to slow down?

00:37:00.440 --> 00:37:01.800
And then in the next breath,

00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:03.480
he's talking about the next
project

00:37:03.480 --> 00:37:05.560
he wants to do.

00:37:05.560 --> 00:37:07.720
We're trying to do a lot,

00:37:07.720 --> 00:37:09.800
and because it's conservation

00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:11.520
there’s not much resources.

00:37:11.520 --> 00:37:12.880
It's not like we're head of

00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:14.240
a corporation,

00:37:14.240 --> 00:37:15.320
we've got all these people

00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:16.200
working for us.

00:37:16.200 --> 00:37:18.920
A lot of it we're doing
ourselves.

00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:21.600
But also we're being thrown

00:37:21.600 --> 00:37:25.400
into very difficult
circumstances,

00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:28.600
testifying to legislators or

00:37:29.040 --> 00:37:31.280
writing a scientific paper that

00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:32.680
everybody attacks,

00:37:32.680 --> 00:37:35.440
or getting out in front
of a room full of

00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:37.520
crabbers who are mad at you
because you’ve

00:37:37.800 --> 00:37:40.240
stopped them from making money.

00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:41.840
You know, and

00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:42.840
it’s, it's

00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:44.840
really important to have
support.

00:37:45.200 --> 00:37:47.360
And so Mandy and I give each
other

00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:49.080
that support

00:37:49.080 --> 00:37:51.920
that helps us do these jobs
that are

00:37:52.720 --> 00:37:56.080
hard to do alone.

00:38:02.160 --> 00:38:03.600
So want to read that to me?

00:38:03.600 --> 00:38:07.800
133202894.

00:38:08.200 --> 00:38:09.760
02894.

00:38:10.600 --> 00:38:11.880
1-V-L.

00:38:12.680 --> 00:38:14.480
I put rings on every one of
these.

00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:15.400
We're using

00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:16.240
a device

00:38:16.240 --> 00:38:17.760
called a light sensitive

00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:20.680
geolocator on Red knots now.

00:38:20.680 --> 00:38:21.600
We've been using it

00:38:21.600 --> 00:38:23.720
for the last three years.

00:38:23.720 --> 00:38:26.720
And they're just little tiny
devices

00:38:26.720 --> 00:38:29.480
that have real small batteries

00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:32.840
and a little chip to store data,

00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:35.080
and then a light sensor.

00:38:35.080 --> 00:38:36.480
Al ight sensitive geolocator

00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.480
is not like a satellite
transmitter.

00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:40.400
A satellite transmitter

00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:42.760
transmits signals of the bird's
location

00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:43.520
up to a satellite,

00:38:43.520 --> 00:38:44.920
and you can sit at your laptop

00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:47.080
and get that data on a day to
day basis.

00:38:47.600 --> 00:38:49.880
A light sensitive geolocator
records

00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:52.080
the time of sunrise and sunset,

00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:53.680
and it's like a sextant.

00:38:53.680 --> 00:38:55.160
From that you can calculate

00:38:55.160 --> 00:38:57.200
where on the globe you are.

00:38:57.200 --> 00:38:58.880
So but to get that data,

00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:00.320
you have to catch the bird
again.

00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:01.480
That's not an easy job.

00:39:01.480 --> 00:39:03.560
I mean, you look at Delaware
Bay,

00:39:03.560 --> 00:39:04.240
it's the whole beach

00:39:04.240 --> 00:39:06.240
will be crowded with shorebirds

00:39:06.680 --> 00:39:08.200
and when we're trapping,

00:39:08.200 --> 00:39:09.880
we're going after one bird.

00:39:09.880 --> 00:39:11.680
So it takes a lot of

00:39:11.680 --> 00:39:14.000
effort and a lot of patience
and skill.

00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:16.920
It is just mind boggling

00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:18.480
that Larry has been able

00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:20.760
to recover these birds.

00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:23.600
It takes a whole lot of
team effort,

00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:25.520
people with spotting scopes

00:39:25.520 --> 00:39:26.800
looking at the flock, trying

00:39:26.800 --> 00:39:28.080
to see if the bird with the
geolocator

00:39:28.080 --> 00:39:29.680
is in the catch area

00:39:29.680 --> 00:39:32.120
and then actually catching it.

00:39:32.120 --> 00:39:34.240
So putting on a geolocator

00:39:34.240 --> 00:39:35.760
on a bird and Delaware Bay,

00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:37.720
having it go to the Arctic,

00:39:37.720 --> 00:39:38.880
back to its wintering ground,

00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:40.400
and then come back to Delaware
Bay

00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:42.120
and then trying to catch it,

00:39:42.120 --> 00:39:43.800
you can’t imagine the exhilaration

00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:45.080
when you actually get one.

00:39:55.800 --> 00:39:57.440
Okay, good!

00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:02.160
There's no rush.

00:40:02.160 --> 00:40:04.760
We just want to get
these birds out first.

00:40:05.640 --> 00:40:07.440
15 Turnstones.

00:40:17.080 --> 00:40:19.200
We need our Turnstone box here!

00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:19.880
Right here.

00:40:19.880 --> 00:40:21.240
Red knot!

00:40:21.240 --> 00:40:22.600
Red knot!

00:40:22.600 --> 00:40:26.080
We need a Knot box over
here!

00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:28.520
Okay.

00:40:29.880 --> 00:40:32.680
Turnstone box !

00:40:42.600 --> 00:40:44.680
There's a banded Turstone.

00:40:49.040 --> 00:40:53.560
We got the geolocator bird.

00:40:57.880 --> 00:41:00.680
Man, this one is on.

00:41:02.160 --> 00:41:04.880
I need to clip it.

00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:06.200
Turnstone.

00:41:06.200 --> 00:41:08.200
Knot here.

00:41:15.880 --> 00:41:16.880
Well done, men.

00:41:16.880 --> 00:41:19.520
Okay, that problem solved.

00:41:24.080 --> 00:41:25.280
What have you got?

00:41:25.280 --> 00:41:27.440
I’ve got the geolocator bird
here.

00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:29.360
What? The geolocator bird?

00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:30.560
Okay.

00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:33.720
Can you handle that, Susan?

00:41:33.720 --> 00:41:35.920
The geolocator bird.

00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:37.760
That's fantastic.

00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:40.720
This is a logger that we
just caught.

00:41:40.720 --> 00:41:43.000
It was probably applied in
Florida,

00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:45.520
and it has probably 500

00:41:46.120 --> 00:41:47.920
and more days of data on it.

00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.200
The logger goes on the
bird's leg

00:41:52.200 --> 00:41:55.360
in that position.

00:41:57.040 --> 00:41:58.680
As an aside,

00:41:58.680 --> 00:42:00.200
because it gets light and dark

00:42:00.200 --> 00:42:01.720
when it's on the nest,

00:42:01.720 --> 00:42:03.840
it can tell us if this bird
incubated

00:42:04.160 --> 00:42:05.880
and if it hatched

00:42:05.880 --> 00:42:08.200
young this year successfully.

00:42:08.200 --> 00:42:10.160
There's a lot to be
learned from loggers.

00:42:10.160 --> 00:42:11.000
The data

00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:13.440
that we get back from the
geolocators,

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:15.720
but first it's about

00:42:15.720 --> 00:42:17.360
understanding ecology.

00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:20.440
So, for example, one lesson

00:42:20.440 --> 00:42:21.800
we learned last year is,

00:42:21.800 --> 00:42:22.560
one of the birds

00:42:22.560 --> 00:42:24.080
we recaptured with a

00:42:24.080 --> 00:42:26.760
geolocator had two years of
data,

00:42:27.320 --> 00:42:29.360
and then one year

00:42:29.360 --> 00:42:31.520
it didn't come to the bay.

00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:34.240
And so in the second year of its

00:42:34.240 --> 00:42:35.400
geolocator life,

00:42:35.400 --> 00:42:37.640
it came to the bay because we
caught it.

00:42:37.640 --> 00:42:38.840
That means a lot to us

00:42:38.840 --> 00:42:39.400
when we're trying

00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:41.520
to figure out populations

00:42:41.520 --> 00:42:44.360
and how important the bay is
and so on.

00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:46.640
The other uses of the data

00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:49.360
are finding these new stopovers.

00:42:49.600 --> 00:42:50.840
We've recaptured

00:42:51.840 --> 00:42:53.640
eight birds with geolocators

00:42:53.640 --> 00:42:55.120
in Massachusetts.

00:42:55.120 --> 00:42:55.720
These are birds

00:42:55.720 --> 00:42:57.600
on their southbound journey.

00:42:57.600 --> 00:42:59.160
and we thought those eight
birds

00:42:59.160 --> 00:43:00.160
were going to go to Florida

00:43:00.160 --> 00:43:00.680
in the winter

00:43:00.680 --> 00:43:04.360
because we knew they were
short distance Red knots.

00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:05.720
And when we got the data back,

00:43:05.720 --> 00:43:06.360
what we found is

00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:07.920
they went to eight different

00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:08.800
wintering areas

00:43:08.800 --> 00:43:10.600
and none of them went to
Florida.

00:43:10.600 --> 00:43:12.160
They went to Cuba,

00:43:12.160 --> 00:43:13.120
they went to

00:43:13.120 --> 00:43:14.760
Haiti, they went to Jamaica,

00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:16.680
they went to Venezuela.

00:43:16.680 --> 00:43:19.360
So it told us a bunch of things.

00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:21.040
The first is all these new

00:43:21.040 --> 00:43:21.720
wintering areas

00:43:21.720 --> 00:43:23.320
that we didn't know anything
about.

00:43:23.320 --> 00:43:26.080
We had one bird wintering in
Maryland

00:43:26.080 --> 00:43:27.320
and then we had another bird

00:43:27.320 --> 00:43:28.720
wintering in Tierra del Fuego,

00:43:28.720 --> 00:43:30.080
and we basically have had birds

00:43:30.080 --> 00:43:32.360
wintering everywhere in between.

00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:34.200
So it throws into question

00:43:34.200 --> 00:43:35.280
your whole idea of what

00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:37.600
a stopover and wintering
area is.

00:43:38.520 --> 00:43:40.360
What needs to be done to
stabilize

00:43:40.360 --> 00:43:40.840
and increase

00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:42.880
the Red knot population is

00:43:42.880 --> 00:43:45.720
we need to put more eggs
on the beach right now.

00:43:46.040 --> 00:43:47.200
And to do that,

00:43:47.200 --> 00:43:49.320
we need to have more crabs
laying eggs.

00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:51.000
It's a very simple solution.

00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:53.800
They've been around
for 425 million years.

00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:56.080
They've outlived the dinosaurs

00:43:56.080 --> 00:43:57.160
and every other extinction

00:43:57.160 --> 00:43:58.200
that's happened.

00:43:58.200 --> 00:44:00.880
Will they be able to come back
from us?

00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:02.520
If we give them a chance, yeah.

00:44:02.520 --> 00:44:04.200
If we don't give them a chance,

00:44:04.200 --> 00:44:05.640
we may be the species

00:44:05.640 --> 00:44:09.440
that put a living fossil in the
grave.

00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:48.720
Should we let this just
disappear?

00:44:48.720 --> 00:44:50.000
No, it's part of the world.

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:51.080
It's part of us.

00:44:51.080 --> 00:44:51.800
It's part of everything.

00:44:51.800 --> 00:44:53.720
So we should be looking
after it.

00:44:54.520 --> 00:44:55.480
This year

00:44:55.480 --> 00:44:57.320
we're going back with
a smile on our face

00:44:57.320 --> 00:44:59.120
for the first time for 14 years,

00:44:59.120 --> 00:45:02.200
because this year we've seen
the best

00:45:02.200 --> 00:45:04.440
level of crab spawning

00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:06.080
in the 14 years that we've
been here.

00:45:06.080 --> 00:45:09.240
When the public expresses
its will

00:45:09.240 --> 00:45:11.560
then that's when we get change.

00:45:12.040 --> 00:45:13.640
And if it's just scientists

00:45:13.640 --> 00:45:15.920
talking to each other or writing

00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:18.360
papers, then we're liable

00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:20.600
to be doing that for the next,

00:45:20.600 --> 00:45:21.880
you know, 50 years

00:45:21.880 --> 00:45:23.200
without serious change.

00:45:23.200 --> 00:45:24.360
My hope is that

00:45:24.360 --> 00:45:25.600
the public really gets behind

00:45:25.600 --> 00:45:27.080
Horseshoe crabs and gives them
some love,

00:45:27.080 --> 00:45:28.160
because they really do

00:45:28.160 --> 00:45:29.440
need public support.

00:45:29.440 --> 00:45:32.200
I think we've tended over
the years

00:45:32.200 --> 00:45:33.840
to create barriers

00:45:33.840 --> 00:45:35.640
between people and animals.

00:45:35.640 --> 00:45:36.600
I think

00:45:36.600 --> 00:45:38.520
the impact of that is that
people

00:45:38.520 --> 00:45:40.840
no longer feel connected to
animals.

00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:42.680
It's a very worthwhile program

00:45:42.680 --> 00:45:44.480
trying to save the Red knots,

00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:45.640
and it's pleasing

00:45:45.640 --> 00:45:47.920
after all this time to find it
working.

00:45:47.920 --> 00:45:49.600
In the case of the Red knots,

00:45:49.600 --> 00:45:51.880
30,000 miles

00:45:51.880 --> 00:45:54.920
round trip migration each year.

00:45:55.600 --> 00:45:56.920
Now they've only got to do

00:45:56.920 --> 00:45:59.920
that for seven or eight or
nine years,

00:45:59.920 --> 00:46:00.920
and they've flown the distance

00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:05.160
from here to the moon.

00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:45.720
The public can get involved

00:47:45.720 --> 00:47:47.080
with shorebird conservation

00:47:47.080 --> 00:47:49.200
by helping us re-sight
shorebirds

00:47:49.200 --> 00:47:50.400
with leg flags.

00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:51.680
It's a little tab of plastic

00:47:51.680 --> 00:47:53.200
that sticks off the bird’s
upper leg.

00:47:53.200 --> 00:47:54.200
There's three

00:47:54.200 --> 00:47:56.320
alphanumeric characters on
the flag

00:47:56.720 --> 00:47:57.080
and it,

00:47:57.080 --> 00:47:58.360
when you see one on the beach,

00:47:58.360 --> 00:47:59.200
if you can record

00:47:59.200 --> 00:48:01.200
those letters and numbers
and report it on

00:48:01.200 --> 00:48:04.080
www.bandedbirds.org

00:48:04.360 --> 00:48:06.000
we can track that bird's
movements

00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:06.880
throughout the hemisphere.

00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:08.560
And those data help us
understand

00:48:08.560 --> 00:48:10.240
where they're going

00:48:10.240 --> 00:48:11.920
to and from, where they're
stopping over,

00:48:11.920 --> 00:48:13.000
what are those critical habitats,

00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:14.080
and also help us develop

00:48:14.080 --> 00:48:15.240
survival estimates.

00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:16.680
So that's one really big way

00:48:16.680 --> 00:48:19.200
the public can help us help
these birds.