Photo by Sacha Balavoine, in the Macaulay Library
A bill introduced in the Delaware Legislature in 2025 designates the Red Knot as the State Migratory Bird. House Bill 189, introduced by Representative Sophie Phillips and co-sponsored by Senator Stephanie Hansen and Representative William Carson, passed unanimously in both the House and Senate and currently awaits Governor Meyer's signature.
In 1939, the Delaware General Assembly enacted a law designating the "Blue Hen Chicken" as the official state bird, formalizing a tradition that began in 1775 during the Revolutionary War. Since Delaware is one of only two states with a domestic bird as the state bird, the addition of State Migratory Bird to the state code gives recognition to a true wild bird widely known for its association to Delaware.
The Red Knot, about the size of the American Robin, completes one the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. Its connection to Delaware is fabled, because the Delaware Bay is one of two stops it makes during its spring migration of 19,000 miles, which is nearly half the distance around the globe. For several weeks each May, it forages along the beaches of the Delaware Bay for horseshoe crab eggs in an attempt to double its body weight, which it must do to complete its final migration leg to its Arctic breeding grounds. Up to 90 percent of the Red Knot subspecies Rufa can be found along the Delaware bays in a single day during that period, which also sees an influx of visitors to Delaware who wish to witness the shorebird spectacle.
The Red Knot faces numerous challenges during its perilous migration. In the 1990s, it came very near extinction because unregulated horseshoe crab harvests virtually depleted its essential stopover food source. Thanks to the work of Delaware Audubon and other organizations, regulations were put in place which stabilized the horseshoe crab population, although the population still remains well below historic levels. Horseshoe crabs are still harvested for bait in Delaware, and they are harvested for their blood in increasing numbers by the unrestricted biomedical industry, even though there is a synthetic alternative available that is just as effective and cost effective as horseshoe crab blood.
An even more dire threat to the survival of the Red Knot is climate change. Alterations to the flow of the Gulf Stream has resulted in cold water interrupting horseshoe crab spawning in three of the last six years, during the period when shorebirds are in the Bay. An insufficient supply of horseshoe crab eggs deprive shorebirds of the ability to gain the weight they need to complete their migration.
Although birds are incredibly resilient, there have been recent examples of man pushing bird species over the edge. The hope is that this recognition of the Red Knot will assist in the efforts being taken to insure this remarkable bird’s survival.