Partnering to save endangered animals: Delaware

We're so excited about the new interactive map highlighting endangered species efforts in each state across the nation. Each day we'll feature a state, partner and animal. Subscribe on the right to keep up!

And we're back! Time to feature Delaware and one of its most renowned avian visitors--the red knot. 

Back at the end of May, biologists cheered when a legendary red knot was seen in Delaware Bay. This dove-sized shorebird was tagged in 1995 in Argentina and is thought to now be around 19 years old. If an odometer tagged along with the bird, it would read over 350,000 miles, thanks to its yearly migration from Argentina to the Canadian Arctic.

This bird's high mileage and good condition is a hopeful sign for not only its future but for the future of all red knots. Up to 90 percent of the red knot population has been lost, and it's become the focus of much collaboration from local to international levels. Read more.

The legendary red knot, known as B95, has even been the subject
of a book.

Here are some other stories featured on Delaware’s page:

• Swamp pink: Swamp pink is a perennial herb in the lily family. It is known to occur in headwater streams and mountain bogs from New Jersey to Georgia.
• Atlantic coast piping plover: Find out how human activities affect this dainty, sand-colored shorebird on both its breeding and wintering grounds.
• North Atlantic right whale: This whale once roamed most waters in the Atlantic, but has still not recovered from the dramatic declines it experienced from whaling.
• Seabeach amaranth:  This annual plant is found on the dunes of Atlantic Ocean beaches.
• Bog turtle: North America's smallest turtle, the bog turtle faces the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat from wetland alteration, development, pollution, invasive species and plant succession. 

We also encourage you to read this recent article from the New York Times: Red knots, Horseshoe Crabs and a Shared Fight to Survive in Delaware Bay.