My cousin Jane, friends and myself went to Slaughter Beach, Delaware (and a few nearby spots) to view the annual mass breeding of the Horseshoe Crabs. They breed and come to shore, riding high tide in to the beach, in great numbers to deposit and fertilize vast numbers of protein rich eggs over a two week period (+/- a few days) every May. One of the best places to view this spectacle is Slaughter Beach on the Delaware Bay.
Blue Ridge Workshops provided a photography instructor and a naturalist guide for our "day at the beach" and some of us even got to try out HUGE lenses on our Nikon cameras. I failed miserably to get the hang of using a 600mm prime lens fitted with a 2x converter and think my Sigma 120-400mm zoom is much easier to use! (also would need someone to carry the rig for me if I were to use such a huge and heavy lens assembly) Too bad I forgot to pack the 1.4x converter for my Sigma lens.
And now for a few of the birds who dine on the eggs laid by the crabs...
8 comments:
Very nice captures of these beautiful shorebirds!
How much fun was that?! I would have loved being there too! I think I would have skipped the 2x converter on a 600mm lens, talk about overkill! That had to be one massive outfit. Your photographs of this interesting happening are excellent Victoria, thanks for sharing!
Great post and the picture are great. It is amazing how different species depend on one another.
A lovely read.
Good info and beautiful images many thanks for sharing.
Great post and photos. Delaware is a great place to see the shorebirds. Usually the redknots like to feast on the horseshorcrab eggs. The first is is cool, I love seeing al the birds in flight.
I enjoyed this post as I don't get to see shore birds except along Lake Erie and no horseshoe crabs...Michelle
Great shots of the birds and the crabs Victoria. The mass of Sanderlings and the close up shot with the little crab in its beak are very cool.
Great pictures of shorebirds and interesting info!
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