Get to Know Delaware "SEU" | Energize Delaware - Energize Delaware

Height/length: 10 inches

Weight: 135 grams (4.7 ounces)

Scientific name: Calidris canutus rufa

Favorite Color: Red!

Favorite Song: My own -- a flight note called a “knut”

Profession: Mascot and Spokesbird for the SEU’s Energize Delaware

 

Lifespan: Approximately 7 years

Favorite food: Horseshoe crab eggs, marine worms, and mussels, clams and other mollusks.

Best friends: University of Delaware Blue Hen and the Delaware State University Hornet

Other friends down the shore: shorebirds that include the Sanderlings, Short-billed Dowitchers, Ruddy Turnstones and Semi-palmated Sandpipers

................

Hi, I’m Delaware SEU – the Sustainable Energy Utility Energize Delaware’s mascot, a Red Knot shorebird. I’m something of an international traveler, but I have a special place in my heart for Delaware and Delawareans. Through my annual spring visits to the First State, I’ve learned firsthand the exceptional natural beauty of Delaware—especially the shorelines and the Delaware Bay. 

 

But my favorite thing about Delaware is how smart Delawareans are about energy. I make a special stop along the Delaware Bay every spring to feed on my most important energy source – horseshoe crab eggs.

 

This source of renewable energy gives me enough energy to fly the final leg of a nearly 10,000-mile migration. It starts at Tierra del Fuego off the southern coast of South America and ends all the way in the high arctic of Canada! 

 

 

 

 

 

I can fly as many as 5,000 miles--much of it over the Atlantic Ocean--in just about a week to get to the shores of the Delaware Bay! It is here that I can take advantage of the renewable energy source horseshoe crab eggs to refuel to get all the way up to my breeding grounds, including places like Southampton Island in the High Arctic of Canada. This is yet another nonstop flight of $2,500 miles! The entire trip takes four months. So, as you can imagine, I need to make sure I have all the energy it takes to make the trip. Delaware Bay is the best place to get that energy and I have to use it wisely.

 

Not to boast, but I know a little something about how to make a little energy go a long way. I’m a bird on a budget.

 

That’s why the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) made me their mascot and spokesbird. I’m here to help make sure residents and businesses know how they can be smart about energy and save money. By using SEU Energize Delaware programs for homes, businesses, nonprofits and schools, Delawareans can cut energy waste and tap clean energy sources to save money, create jobs and improve the environment.

 

The SEU’s Energize Delaware provides many opportunities to improve efficiency and use clean energy.

 

Together we can do great things. Let’s EnergizeDelaware.org.

I look forward to helping you with energy solutions. But to do my job well, I need your help too!

 

Let me share some more details about why Delaware is such an important part of my life.

 

As everyone knows, spending the spring on the beaches in Delaware is about as good as it gets. But the life of a Red Knot shorebird has not always been easy. A couple hundred years back, my ancestors were hunted for food as they migrated through North America on their way to the Canadian tundra. That was a tough time in the history of the Red Knot and contributed to a decline in our population.

 

In recent years, the great quality of life we Red Knots enjoy in Delaware has been threatened again. Bad weather, loss of habitats and food shortages have reduced the Red Knot population from 100,000 birds in 1994 to about 25,000 this year. It is very important that horseshoe crab populations in the Delaware Bay remain healthy or our favorite stopover won’t be able to provide the energy we need. The good news is that we have amazing friends in Delaware who want to make sure we are able to keep coming back to the state we love. In 1986, the state named the shores of Delaware Bay the first International Shorebird Reserve. And our friends are working to make sure there are enough of my clean energy source- horseshoe crab eggs - to go around.

 

Many thanks to my good friends like the Delaware Nature Society and other partners who are looking out for me.  

 

I hope you’ll find out more about Red Knot shorebirds and how you can help make sure we’re a part of Delaware’s beach community for generations to come. Additional resources include: