I am wondering if someone could give some insight about the horseshoe crab migration/breeding season this month in Great Bay. I would like to take a paddling trip and see the large gathering of crabs, but am not sure of the right place(s) to go. I heard of a trip the NSPNers do around the last full moon of May, but have not seen any mention of such a trip or plans.

Can anyone give me some idears of beaches or places to do some quality ogling? Adam's Point? Somewhere else? Thanks in advance!

Todd

Adams Point is a great place to launch and see the little critters bumbin around. Next weekend should be optimal but its hit or miss as far as peak. Saturday the 25th will be a 12:09 high tide in Portsmouth, and later in Great Bay. Not sure of the lag time. I've always enjoyed that trip. If I wasn't in Maine that weekend, I'd join you.

Doug

Thanks, Doug. I use Dover Point - Adam's Point is about 30-45 mins lag time from there. That puts a low at 7:30ish am and high around 2 pm on the 25th. I read that you might get a good smattering of crabs on the shoreline at low tide.

I'm outta town this weekend, but would be up for a trip on the weekend of the 25th. If I can scout some areas, I might bring the family back out in the canoe on the 26th. Of course, if Adam's Point works out, I could always drive them there

(or better yet, they could drop me off!)

Hi Todd,

I don't think it's NSPN that does the Horseshoe Crab trip - I think it may be Neil Sheehan's group on MeetUp, NE Seacoast Paddlers.

Glad you mentioned it, I'll start looking around the next few times I paddle up there.

Here is a link or two that might have some good info.

http://www.greatbay.org/

http://www.greatbay.org/about/facilities.htm (Sandy Point Discovery Center, Greenland NH)

(the Nature Conservancy might also have some info)

I don't know my way around Little Bay that much, but when I paddle Great Bay I usually think in terms of paddling 4 hrs or so.

The horseshoe crabs will be looking for the highest tides to help insure their eggs do not get washed away.

I have seen them, in other years along most all the shoreline when the season is right. I have seen them aplenty at Adams point launch enough so you are careful not to step on them or land your boat on top of them.

Also they do have a fondness for coming ashore at Sandy Point Discovery Center.

I don't know my way that much up through Little Bay but I am sure there places up through there as well.

I'll be curious how you make out with viewing them this year.

Edited May 16, 201312 yr by spider

Thanks! My friends that work at the Adam's Point UNH lab gave me the skinny on when to expect the crabs. It seems that the weekend of the 25th is a prime time for spawning (May 25-27 will be the highest tides of the month) and sightings. High tide on Saturday (the 24th) will be around 1pm and on Sunday around 2pm at Adam's Point. I will likely hit the water one of those two days in my kayak, and the other will be in a much more benign canoe trip with the family. It actually sounds like you just drive up to the AP boat launch at high tide and can see everything with ease.

It'll be an adventure...

We used to do some of our Bald Eagle observations from there and enter info into the log books a few years back. They manage the property for species diversity, so over time you get to see some pretty unusual things. Owls observing and woodcock doing crazy display flights etc...

just to help clear up the dates.. I have... Sat the 25th... high tide 1:20 Dover Point

Sun 26th 2:13 Dover Point

Guess I figure another 20 min for it to reach Adams Point (or something like that) A round trip from Adams Point to Exeter will give you about 20 miles paddling, if you're feeling energetic.

For kayak paddling Adams point works nicely giving Furber straight it's necessary respect.

For a more family canoe outing I would tend to recommend Sandy Point and not deal with Furber Straight at all.

I believe Sandy point also offers educational Kayak outings as well. Also an interpretive board walk along the forest/ edge.

Adams point also has an interpretive trail.

(both Adams Point & Sandy Point are tide dependent)

happy paddling...good viewing..

Thanks, again! One must always remember they are tide 'predictions' and do not operate per our schedules of desired regularity. Thanks for the update/reminder

We will take some pics this weekend and update accordingly. We will probably hike along the Adam's Point trails on Saturday as there is some good shore access along the way and seemingly desirable shoreline for the buggers. Depending on our viewing success, I may or may not follow it up with a paddle on Sunday.

The 8 month pregnant wife is not in love with the idea of paddling in a canoe right now ...yuk yuk yuk. No arguments here.

Thanks again for the info.

Toddg

I don't know about anyone else, but we didn't see squat last weekend. Hopefully we'll have better luck this weekend. Perhaps the rain drove the crabs out of the bay with low salinity.

Anyone else have any luck?

Darn good question I wonder if your friend knows the answer. I was thinking I would give it another go for the new moon tide a bit later on.

When they are out and about you can often see them right there at the boat launch. It looks too rocky to me but they like it anyways it seems.

I'm going to try and pick a tide that is not the heat of the day if I can next time,

We saw they had the high tide line marked with flagging and a few places that had been scraped out by the "critters".

We noticed UNH had notice looking for volunteers for a Horseshoe Crab census. The age looked knew we took the 1st tear off tab with the address, but haven't followed through yet. It gave me the impression that we had not missed the main event yet for the big "Prom Night" .

We hid from the wind on the east side back behind Woodman's Point, there are a few pocket beaches, however it would be indiscreet to mention how we were able to do our observations there.

Seems they are blind to our way of thinking. They have light sensors on their shells, as we watched they would come to the extreme edge of the water line and do a U turn or burrow in a bit. They didn't come on shore like a snapping turtle for example.

A few came up through the softer edges where the grasses soften most the agitation from the water and the soil is a bit sandier.

A couple of horseshoe "teenagers" cruising the shoreline..looking for love in all the wrong places...and a few more successful couples to emerge, but certainly few and far between.

A few years back one paddler here saw a huge amount on a low tide off Sandy Point presumably getting ready for a later tide it would seem.

Good luck, When they are active there are times you literally have to be careful not to step on them or crunch them with the boat esp when launching and landing.

I'm hoping the water will settle and the visibility much better.

There is a lot of interest in them, they are having a tough go of it down in Chesapeake Bay apparently.

ahhh.... the tide waits for no one... a little up date.

One thing nice about Great Bay is that if the tides aren't working for the open ocean I get another "window of opportunity" to ride the tide in the Bay

So the good news ht was about 6-6:30 this morning the water was settled and I could see a couple of the Horseshoe Crabs from the launch before I even put the boat to the water.

Later when I returned to Adams Point about 9:30 am. I met the young lady who is heading up the Horseshoe Crab census these past 2 years,(if I have my info correct)

I paddled down to Sandy Point and there I definitely had to be careful not to step on them or crunch them with the boat, All in all there were about 20 of them right there on and nearby the launch even though I was more than an hr after HT by the time I stopped by there, they were still coming to waters edge for spawning.

I did rescue one large female who started climbing up some jumbled rocks and flipped upside down stuck between them. I knew it was a fatal mistake so I picked her up and put her back at waters edge. (yes and her pesky "boyfriend" as well).

So this is what I learned from the young lady and the fellow helping her.

...The horseshoe crabs like the warmer water right now and Sandy Point seems to warm up sooner so there is a good concentration there.

......they can tolerate a fair amount of fresh water so the salinity after a rain should still be ok.

.......she studies the temp of the water and the clarity of the water..the clarity of the water caught my interest as to whether it affects the spawning

......not all the empty shells are fatalities some are old shells from molting esp the smaller ones.

...they can't tell if the population is crashing or not, but they certainly are trying to figure it out

.....volunteers go out on all the high tides...even the new moon high tides at 3am in the morning

apparently a group of scientists or biologists took a kayak tour yesterday trying to get an idea how things were looking but came up somewhat empty handed.

...there are other invasive crabs in the Bay and may or may not be impacting our Horseshoe friends.

...they assured me the spawning is not over but we are in the middle of it and it will continue further into June as well...

...and yes they are looking for other volunteers also.

....there are other study areas along the Bay and Little Bay (up to the Bellamy maybe further I believe)

...and yes Horseshoe Crabs are more closely related to Spiders...though I would say part of the "extended" family :-)

Edited May 31, 201312 yr by spider

Here an old thread with a bunch of info So I thought I might  resurrect  it rather than start a new one. Hope that is okay.

So ...just got off from paddling on the Bay this morning 

High tide was 10 ish and though the full moon is not for a few days, there was plenty of Horseshoe Crab  activity.

So when I launched or landed for rest breaks I had to be mindful not to step on any.

Also curious if anybody could tell me the name of whatever fish makes big splashes in the water this time of year. I was big time startled a couple of times when it happened right beside me as I paddled along...thanks