Scientists scramble to save U.S. shorebird - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Scientists scramble to save U.S. shorebird

By Jon Hurdle
1 hour, 32 minutes ago

FORTESCUE, New Jersey (Reuters) - A tiny shorebird is edging closer
to extinction, threatened by fishermen who destroy its food staple for
bait and loved by ornithologists who are drawn from around the world
to count it.

The red knot, once a numerous springtime visitor to the beaches of the
Delaware Bay on the U.S. Atlantic Coast, has declined to an all-time low
of 12,300 birds, down from some 15,000 last year and around 100,000 in
the mid-1980s.

Biologists led by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
have been monitoring the bird for the last 23 years amid signs that it
may soon join the dodo on the list of birds never to be seen again.

-snip-

The red knot's numbers have been decimated by overharvesting of
horseshoe crabs, whose eggs are its staple diet. With enough food, the
4.7-ounce (135-gram) bird can put on sufficient weight to complete its
9,000-mile (14,500-km) migration from southern Argentina to Arctic
Canada each spring, and will hopefully breed successfully when it gets
there.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070603/sc_nm/usa_birds_dc

[Double T]

1. mankind can not continue to displace other species' environments and food supplies without..........

devastating results. I believe there is a very small percentage of the population that is truly concerned about the critical environmental issues and are actually willing to make lifestyle changes to save the planet and ALL of the living breathing creatures that occupy it.

[razzleberry]

2. Wiki... conservation status, least concern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_knot

[pitohui]

3. yeah there is outdated information on the old intertubes

amazing ain't it?