Get in Touch with Nature this Spring and Summer

TOP: A horseshoe crab sits in the surf of the Delaware Bay in Slaughter Beach, Delaware.

In May and June, as the waters of the Delaware Bay get warmer, the humble Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) emerges from the Delaware Bay to breed and lay eggs in the sand.

Horseshoe crabs are ancient creatures that predate the dinosaurs. Because of their longevity, horseshoe crabs are often referred to as living fossils.

Beaches along the Delaware Bay in Delaware and New Jersey are great places to see the crabs in action If you’re lucky, you might even spot migrating shorebirds such as red knots and ruddy turnstones, as the Delaware Bay shores are critical resting places for the birds The birds feed on insects and nutrient-rich horseshoe crab eggs to give them the strength to continue their flights around the world, including the Arctic.

Visit https://dnrec.delaware.gov/fish-wildlife/education-outreach/dupont-nature-center/horseshoe-crabs-and-shorebirds for information about viewing horseshoe crabs in Delaware.

Visit https://returnthefavornj org/where-and-when/ for information about viewing horseshoe crabs in New Jersey.

For more information about horseshoe crabs and their connection to shorebirds, visit delawareestuary.org/soe23/animals

and

https://wwwnj.gov/drbc/basin/living/horseshoe-crabs html

Ruddy turnstones, which are migrating shorebirds, flock around horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay.