An Epic and Ancient Spring Migration on the Georgia Coast
The Georgia Coast is globally significant and here's why... Featuring my Golden Isles Magazine Nature Connection column
Last May, I tagged along a red knot survey on the northern edge of the Georgia Coast. Fletcher Smith of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources allow me to join him and his two techs on their way out to a sand bar just south of Little Tybee. On Flethcer’s skiff, we zoomed through a meandering mosquito creek on a warm overcast day around 8:30 in the morning . The tide pulsed through the islands and into marshes, and all we could think about was spotting some knots on Williamson bar just south of Little Tybee.
When we arrived to the bar, a sense of urgency burst through my body. I needed to document this important annual event. I pulled out my Canon EOS R equipped with my trusty 150-600mm Sigma Sport lens, and I plopped the heavy setup onto a tripod and hopped over the side of the boat. A massive female horseshoe crab spooked me as her spider-y legs poked my feet as I trudged through the water. A male pursued her wanting to latch onto her back. After a few yards of wading, I put my tripod legs down in the water, and I began to snap photos amongst the cacophony.
Mating season for horseshoe crabs means move with the tide onto the shore. Many of them will strand onto the upper stretches of sand as the tide backs out. This provides plenty of food for bigger birds like gulls and other animals ghost crabs. However, the females horseshoe crabs release hundreds of eggs into the sand, and the males latched onto the females actively fertilizing and thus creating the precious spawn.
Alert, migratory shorebirds of many species congregated on the small bar, and they honed in on this fatty food source over the next few weeks will provide enough nutrients to make it to their next destination. For some, that’ll be the Canadian Arctic. This is the ancient connection. Who knows how long this migratory event has occurred and evolved throughout the past tens of thousands of years (and even longer) of climate change. I tell you, the yearly migratory journey of the Rufa red knot makes any human endurance journey look minuscule in comparison. Now is the time to raise awareness about the federally threatened red knots and other species of vulnerable migratory birds that either use our coast as a place to feed or breed, like Wilson’s plover or whimbrel.
Year around we see migratory shorebirds on the coast, and we need to give them spaces on the beach otherwise, they lose their habitat to feed. We can cohabitate with them, but in generally, we need to be more aware of their space. Read my column below, and educate your friends and colleagues!
The Red Knot
When I first witnessed the ancient connection between the red knots and horseshoe crabs just south of Tybee Island, I realized the Georgia coast is a place of global conservation significance. A cacophony of sounds echoed in my ear as I pointed my camera at a horseshoe crabs egg-feeding frenzy. Hundreds of birds — sanderlings, dunlin, red knots, black bellied plovers, whimbrel, short billed dowitchers, ruddy turnstones, marbled godwit, and more – voraciously pecked into the sand and slurped down the fatty and calorie-dense spawn.
“High tide is the best time to do our work. It took a lot of struggle on tens of thousands of acres of low tide exposed beach to realize that high tide concentrates the birds,” Fletch Smith, GADNR wildlife biologist, told me. Smith researches birds of conservation concern on the Georgia Coast. Listed as federally threatened, the red knot is a species of conservation concern.
During May and as late as early June, an ancient intercontinental migration event can be seen along the beaches of the Golden Isles and elsewhere along the East Coast where several species of migratory shorebirds pack together to feed on the horseshoe crab eggs.
What’s this craze about? Many of these migratory shorebirds are about to continue their journey northward for breeding season in the Canadian Arctic. Scientists have uncovered that knots use the Georgia beaches to fly directly to Arctic. This dismantles the previous scientific convention that Delaware Bay is the single most important stopover for red knots. A 2023 research paper by Smith and colleagues (Fletcher Smith was a contributing author) claims that the southeast (i.e., Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina) is a critical spring stopover for red knots.
“Georgia is not just being used by red knots on their way up to Delaware Bay. Georgia is being used by the birds to get to migratory weight, which means arriving at about 90 to 100 grams and departing at like 200, sometimes 200 plus grams. Doubling their weight on Georgia resources and then flying directly from Georgia all the way to the high Arctic,” Fletcher told me.
Where are they coming from? Rufa red knots fly from as far as Patagonia to the Arctic. Many are flying from the Caribbean and even Florida however.
The problem with protecting migratory birds is that it requires cooperation among federal, state, and local agencies on a global level. Over the past 40 to 50 years, we’ve seen a 75-80% decline in red knots. This decline resulted in the species being labeled as federally threatened in the United States and as endangered in Canada.
Migratory shorebirds in general are facing what’s called a death by a thousand cuts. That practically means habitat destruction is killing shorebirds, and this comes in many forms. When we bulldoze, dredge and fill, develop, pollute, overpopulate, and so on, we reduce habitat for wild animals that have spent millions of years evolving with the natural rhythms of the planet. The connection between red knots and horseshoe crabs is a vital one that relies on unhindered access to feeding locations.
In my conversation with Smith, he identified two threats to red knots, one of which concerns our local impact: 1) Dogs roam on the beach without a leash during critical feeding windows around May and June and 2) Feral hogs eat horseshoe crabs and are the direct threat to red knots, especially on the more remote beaches and sandbars of the Georgia coast.
Think about it: if birds are constantly being thrown off their food source by people and dogs, they are wasting energy and missing out on important food resources to fly to the Arctic. Space is critical to all shorebirds on the beach throughout the spring and summer. Pay attention to the signs at beach accesses and roped off dunes. Some beaches require leashes for dogs, and others, like the south end of Jekyll Island, prohibit dogs in general.
If you’d want to witness the spring migration including the species listed above, watch from a distance on beaches like Gould’s Inlet (especially the sand bar exposed at low tide), the southend of Sea Island, or right off the Saint Andrews sound on Jekyll.
Bring a shorebird book and binoculars, but keep your distance from the birds!
Wow! These photos are great! and I loved learning more about shorebirds. I was at Jekyll Island for the first time last May, and this makes me want to go back soon. I still haven't seen a red knot and would love to.