Photo: Jan van der Kam/Courtesy of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation)

There’s a very interesting and extensive story in today’s Record by James O’Neill on the plight of Red Knots, a New Jersey Endangered and Federal Threatened Species that has been dwindling for the past two decades.

The reason for the decline: the over harvesting of eggs laid by Horseshoe Crabs on beaches along the Delaware Bay. The migratory birds depend upon the eggs to fatten up for the journey to their Arctic breeding grounds. The number of birds has stabilized in recent years but hasn’t started to rebound.

Check out the story and an accompanying video here