Showing posts sorted by relevance for query red knot. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query red knot. Sort by date Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Red Knot Movie at Kingstone Greenway May 22


This Wednesday in Kingston, you can hear the latest on the heroic efforts to save the red knot, the bird that flies each year from the southern tip of South America up to the arctic to breed. Along the way, it makes a crucial pit stop in New Jersey to refuel on rich, fatty eggs left on the beaches of the Delaware Bay by horseshoe crabs. Those beaches were swept away by Hurricane Sandy, but a last minute effort came from government and nonprofits to restore some of the beaches in time for the horseshoe crabs' arrival. I've added some links from news stories below, including news of one tagged red knot that's flown farther than the distance from earth to moon.

Kingston Greenways Association Annual Meeting and the showing of a film Crash: A Tale of Two Species 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at the Kingston Firehouse, 6 Heathcote RoadKingston.

After a very brief business meeting, Maria Grace, Education and Outreach Manager for Conserve Wildlife, will introduce this PBS Documentary that explores the relationship between the red knot and the horseshoe crab.  A discussion and an opportunity for questions will follow.

The meeting is free and open to all.  Refreshments will be served.

For further information contact:  http://kingston greenways.org/   or  609-750-1821

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/horseshoe_crabs_and_red_knots.html

"Moonbird"--a banded red knot documented to have flown farther in its annual migrations than the distance from earth to moon. http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130517/NEWS08/130517018/-Lost-red-knot-rediscovered-along-Delaware-Bay

Here's some Moonbird math: 240,000 miles to the moon. A red knot flies 18,600 miles round trip each year. The "Moonbird" red knot has been observed by birders since it was banded in 1995. That means it has flown more than 316,000 miles.

Spring Shorebird and Horseshoe Festival being held this weekend (May 17-19): http://www.shorenewstoday.com/snt/news/index.php/2010-04-07-20-18-16/middle-township-events/38559--wetlands-institute-to-hold-spring-shorebird-and-horseshoe-crab-festival.html

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Migration Update--Monarchs and Red Knots

This year's count of monarchs overwintering in the mountains of Mexico is ongoing, as the monarchs continue to arrive. There's an update page, apparently updated weekly. Here's an update from Nov. 10:
As of November 10th, there were 10 trees filled with monarchs at El Rosario Sanctuary. This compares to 60 trees on November 1, 2011.
You can see how the numbers have fallen, with the change in U.S. farming practices, particularly widespread adoption of Roundup-Ready GMO corn and soybeans, being a big factor in the decline.

Another extraordinary migration threatened--The Red Knot

Below is info from Delaware Riverkeeper on a proposal to list the Red Knot--the robin-sized bird that flies nearly 19,000 miles each year, from southern Patagonia up to the arctic and back--as threatened. There's a quick link provided where you can put your vote in for increasing the designation to "endangered". Long-distance migrating species are the most affected by changes in climate, because their arrival at different locations along the way need to be well-timed with available food sources that will fuel the next leg of their journey. This link takes you to a previous post with more info on the red knot, the heroic efforts to save it, and its annual stopover in New Jersey to feast on freshly laid horseshoe crab eggs.
Speak Out to Save the Red Knot, a Delaware Bay Shorebird, from Extinction
Support the Proposal to List the Red Knot Under the Endangered Species Act – But Urge a Listing of Endangered Rather than Just Threatened.
Red knots that migrate through Delaware Bay have declined by 75 percent or more since the 1980s.  The current number of these beautiful birds hovers around just 25,000 in our Delaware Bay population.
While the Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed in 2005 to have the species listed for protection as early as 2005, only now, as the result of litigation, has the US Fish & Wildlife Service finally gotten around to proposing an increased level of protection the birds so desperately need.
Today the US Fish & Wildlife Service is proposing to list the Red Knot as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  This step is vital if we are to protect the species from extinction, but it is equally important that the level of protection be that of Endangered, not just Threatened.
Please take a moment and send your letter today.
http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/act-now/urgent-details.aspx?Id=155

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Why Do My Nursery-Bought Rhododendrons Languish?


My wife loves things that are beautiful and special, and Rhododendrons are one of them. So periodically we buy one at a local nursery and plant it in the yard, and each time the Rhododendron languishes and ultimately gets pulled out. What's going on? Soil not acid enough? Poor drainage?

Meanwhile, the rhododendron that came with the house thrives under a red oak near the driveway.

This past summer, a developer allowed me to dig up some plants from the foundation of a house he was going to demolish. One was a Rhododendron, which came home with the small knot of roots I managed to dig up. Having transplanted it while it was in bloom, I had no expectations that it would survive, and yet it survived the summer, and now has survived the winter far better than a nursery-bought Rhododendron we planted around the same time.

(There's a downspout in the vicinity, which could potentially make the soil too wet, but it's leaky and probably affects both Rhododendrons equally, and other store-bought Rhododendrons have languished far from any runoff from the roof.)

Might the Rhododendrons available in local nurseries be bred to look good in pots rather than prosper in a typical garden? That's the working hypothesis here, that the sorts of Rhododendrons bought and planted in the 1960s may have been better adapted for gardens, but don't look as good in pots at the nursery, and so couldn't compete with whatever fragile varieties are commonly sold now.