Please join us this Thursday (May 26, 2005) for the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) meeting at the Minnesota Valley Natl Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center 3815 American Blvd East(80th Steet), Bloomington. Take the 34th Avenue exit from I-494 and follow the signs.
Bruce Luebke, of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, will describe on-going Red Knot studies on the Bay, the Arctic, and in South America, which indicate that the Knot is in significant decline. The spring migration of shorebirds on the Delaware Bay is truly a magnificent wildlife spectacle and one of the most imperiled. The Bays beaches are essential spawning habitat for the worlds largest concentration of horseshoe crab. The beaches also attract the Western Hemispheres second-largest spring concentration of shorebirds, which come to feed on the crabs eggs. Recent studies show declines in these shorebird populations, especially the Red Knot, which are likely due to the over-harvest of horseshoe crabs. The public is welcome. We encourage you to come for the social period with coffee, cookies, ice breakers and committee exhibits beginning at 7:00 p.m., followed by a brief business meeting and the featured speakers at 7:30. Steve Weston MRVAC Program Chair swest...@comcast.net
