Turtleback Conservation Center partners with the Long Island Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network to help protect the horseshoe crab populations of the North Fork. The monitoring season runs from May through mid-July, coinciding with new and full moons when these prehistoric creatures come ashore to spawn.

Why Turtleback Monitors Horseshoe Crabs

Ecosystem Health: Horseshoe crab eggs are a crucial food source for migratory shorebirds like the endangered Piping Plover.
Conservation Tracking: Human activities (coastal development, overfishing, and biomedical harvesting for their copper-rich, blue blood) threaten their numbers.
Data Collection: Volunteers and marine scientists tag the crabs and record data (water temperature, tide times, and offshore visibility) to help manage and protect local coastal ecosystems.

How You Can Get Involved

Join Monitoring Efforts: Turtleback, the Long Island Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, and other organizations rely on community volunteers / scientists. You can join late-night monitoring sessions during peak spawning nights. Visit our website to register for an upcoming monitoring night.
Support our efforts by joining an educational art event: Horseshoe Crab Decoupage
Join the TBCC Conservation Committee to help us protect Horseshoe Crab spawning habitat.

How do Horseshoe Crabs help our endangered Piping Plover population?

Piping Plovers rely on the eggs of the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab as an important seasonal food source.

While Plovers aren't as strictly dependent on these eggs as long-distance migrants like the Red Knot, they rely on them in several key ways:

Nutritional Fuel: Horseshoe crab eggs are dense in protein and fat. Plovers eat them to rebuild their energy reserves after long migratory flights and to sustain themselves through their demanding breeding and nesting seasons.
Local Nesting Alignment: Spawning horseshoe crabs and nesting plovers often share the exact same stretch of coastal beach. This allows the birds to forage easily during the egg-laying season.
Shared Foraging: Plovers can typically only access eggs that are brought to the surface by wave action, storms, or when other larger shorebirds (like the Ruddy Turnstone) dig them up.

Horseshoe Crab Conservation

Help Protect Horseshoe Crabs of the North Fork

Team Members