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by Alexandra Kanonik, Program Director Jamaica Bay  July on Jamaica Bay marsh islands is a busy time for its human and animal residents. People are hitting the beach to cool off, fishes are migrating, terrapins are busy laying their eggs on sandy berms, cow nose rays are flapping in the surf, horseshoe crabs are wrapping up their spawning activity, shorebirds are coming in to feed on horseshoe crab eggs, herons like Edgar the Egret are busy feeding their fluffy young, and of course Osprey parents are working very hard feeding their own fledglings, as they need to grow large enough to migrate with their parents South for the Fall.
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by Julie Schumacher-Carroll, Habitat Restoration Coordinator  In Shark River, the data from the 2026 horseshoe crab season is in, and the results are exciting! Shark River is a unique location for horseshoe crabs to access and utilize. Compared to the open waters on Delaware Bay, horseshoe crabs must travel through a turbulent inlet to access the Shark River basin and are then met with a predominately hardened shoreline.
by Zack Royle, Habitat Restoration Manager  Horseshoe crabs at Kimbles Beach. Photo credit: Sue Allen Over the past two months, we have been monitoring horseshoe crabs at Kimbles Beach to better support our restoration work. Every spring, thousands of horseshoe crabs crawl out of the surf and onto Kimbles Beach to lay their eggs. While only a tiny fraction of those eggs become adult horseshoe crabs, millions more provide food for fish, crabs, and migratory shorebirds, making horseshoe crabs one of the Delaware Bay's most important species.
by Kerstin Axe, Restoration Technician  A family visiting from California deploys a tag onto a horseshoe crab found on Thompsons Beach. The American Littoral Society began its 14th season of horseshoe crab tagging along the Delaware Bay on April 30th, 2026. Our first night of tagging for the 2026 season was met with an early – Spring chill, as well as one of our youngest volunteers this season. Night #1 was also met with somewhat surprising low numbers of horseshoe crabs coming up onto the beach for spawning. We believe this may have had something to do with the early – Spring chill that lingered for quite some time. Despite these challenges, the season commenced with 175 tags deployed on Thompsons Beach.
Jerry Kauffman, University of Delaware Lucia Osborne, American Littoral Society Andy Kricun, Environmental Consultant  As Philadelphia celebrates America's 250th birthday in the midst of a blistering 100‑degree heat wave, it is worth remembering that this city is one of the world’s great historic river towns. The Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers—and the creeks that feed them—have shaped Philadelphia’s identity for millennia. Today, they remain a billion‑dollar natural asset, offering recreation, cooling, ecological richness, and drinking water to millions. Yet these waters are still burdened by one of the most persistent and solvable pollution challenges of the 21st century: raw sewage discharges, known as combined sewer overflows (CSOs), contaminating our waterways as many as 195 days out of the year. If Philadelphia is to honor its river heritage and protect its residents during increasingly dangerous heat waves, it must commit to making its rivers and creeks truly clean.
By Danielle McCulloch, Executive Director  Tagging horseshoe crabs inform the model that helps scientists understand population levels. Society tags horseshoe crabs for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photo Credit: Sue Allen Affordability is on everyone’s mind. We are all asking what we can afford now, what we need to save, and what today’s choices will cost tomorrow. The same is true in nature.
Delaware Bay has its own economy. Every spring, tiny green horseshoe crab eggs become one of the Bay’s most valuable currencies. The influx of calorie-rich eggs fuels red knots, ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, fish, terrapins, and the larger web of life. When there are enough eggs on the beaches, shorebirds gain the weight they need to reach Arctic breeding grounds. Fish and terrapins fuel up after a long winter. And that abundance helps sustain the next generation of horseshoe crabs and the future productivity of the Bay. A large spawning horseshoe crab population is a long-term investment in the Delaware Bay ecosystem. Throughout the month of May, both horseshoe crab tagging and horseshoe crab egg density surveys took place throughout Monmouth County. Tagging events took place in Neptune Township in Shark River, a body of water that Society staff has been tagging horseshoe crabs in for 20 years! Although horseshoe crabs are not as abundant in this region as in our Delaware Bay beaches this time of year, many volunteers were able to enjoy the thrills of studying and tagging our favorite living fossil.  On May 30th, over 70 volunteers from Evergreen Group visited Sandy Hook for a day filled of service work. Attendees spent the day cleaning the beach, filling biodegradable shell bags, constructing Reef Prisms, and learning about tabby concrete, a hardened substance derived from recycled oyster shells. As volunteers assisted Society staff in assembling and constructing materials, they learned about the purpose and destination of these materials. Dorn Island, located in the Navesink River, will serve as a monitoring station for Society staff to observe and document the performance of varying shoreline protection materials in order to determine what best to use in large scale habitat restoration efforts throughout the state. In Fall 2026, the Evergreen Group volunteers will be invited back to transport and install the materials constructed at the May 30th event at Dorn Island allowing Society staff to begin the monitoring process.
Decades of Littoral Society boat support to the NYC Bird Alliance Harbor Herons surveys advances important recent findings about the state of today’s Heron Colonies in New York Harbor  Great Egret Chick. Photo credit: Don Riepe For decades, the return of herons, egrets, and ibises to New York Harbor stood as a symbol of environmental recovery. After disappearing from the region during the era of severe pollution and habitat loss prior to the 1970’s, these birds rebounded following the Clean Water Act and became one of the clearest signs that the harbor ecosystem was improving. However, a new 22-year study spearheaded by the science and conservation team at NYC Bird alliance has revealed a troubling reversal: the Northeast's largest breeding population of colonial wading birds has declined by 27%, with losses driven primarily by dramatic drops in black-crowned night herons and glossy ibises. Most concerning is the black-crowned night heron, a longtime icon of New York City's waterways, whose population has fallen by more than half and could disappear locally in the next few decades if current trends continue.
 Restoration Corps members, Chuck and Derick, measuring sill structures along the marsh of Bay Point Beach Since the kickoff of horseshoe crab spawning in the beginning of May, the Society’s Delaware Bay Restoration Corps members have been lending a helping hand at Bay Point Beach. This consisted of assisting Habitat Restoration Technician, Kerstin Axe, with imperative monitoring activities. Restoration activities at Bay Point Beach were completed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, in conjunction with the Stockton University Coastal Research Center.
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