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