Slaughter Beach

Don’t ask me where they got names like Broadkill and Slaughter Beach… but these beaches on the Delaware Bay are worth visiting for their kid friendly surf, their lack of crowds, free, and the great horseshoe crab migration. We ended up at Slaughter Beach, and then onto the DuPont Nature Center to find some of these ancient mariners who have come out of the depths of the bay to lay their eggs. Shorebirds too. Some, like the Red Knot, travelling from one end of the planet to the other,  stop to refuel on the abundant eggs.

finding a horseshoe crab

horseshoe crab, topside

closer look

playing amateur naturalist for some beach kids

beach treasures: here it’s salty enough for whelks, boat shells, razor clams, moon snails, cockles and other oceanic stuff… kitty litter container makes good pirate treasure chest

DuPont Nature Center

how horseshoe crabs get larger: molting

Delaware Beach treasures at DuPont Nature Center

seabiscuit was not just a famous racehorse… this echinoderm is related to urchins, sand dollars, sea stars and sea cucumbers