It's time to visit the beach!

Late May is a good time to visit the beach to see horseshoe crabs. These intriguing animals come to sandy beaches during high tides between mid-May and early June to lay their eggs. At the same time, migratory shorebirds like ruddy turnstones and red knots stop to feed on the crab eggs during the birds' northward migration each spring. The crabs can be seen at a number of New York City beaches, including Plumb and Coney Island beach in Brooklyn, Orchard beach in the Bronx, and along the southern shore of Staten Island, among other sites. Let us know where you see them as we're always looking for new locations. If you want to become a volunteer horseshoe crab watcher in New York, see http://www.nyhorseshoecrab.org/.

American horseshoe crab/wiki images

Posted on May 9, 2013 02:22 AM by americanmuseumofnaturalhistory