Critically endangered bird. They time their arrival along the Delaware Bay just as the horseshoe crabs have layed their eggs. The shorebirds need to gorge themselves on the eggs to fatten up for the rest of the trip to the Arctic. Horseshoe crabs have been overharvested by fishermen as bait for eels. Horseshoe crabs take nearly 9 years to reach sexual maturity. No horseshoe crabs=no horseshoe crab eggs=no more Red Knots. :( There is a moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs as of now and will remain so until the crabs/knots rebound which could take a long time. The birds have declined from nearly 100,000 to about 15,000 in a matter of 10 or so years.