Artist Janet Essley and biologist Lee Tibbitts collaborate with organizations to use the artwork of Red Knots: A Cultural Cartography to promote conservation, environmental, and educational efforts. The American Littoral Society restores ecologically healthy and resilient coastal habitats along the Atlantic Ocean and within the Delaware Bay region. The horseshoe crab is a fundamental part of the Delaware Bay's ecology and is essential to the life cycle of migratory birds, like the Red Knot. We rebuild beaches so the crabs can reproduce and the birds have places to feed.

About The Red Knots Project - www.theredknotsproject.org

About the American Littoral Society - www.littoralsociety.org

About the art:

Endurance : Multi-day Non-Stop Migration Flights

After leaving Argentina, the birds fly north to the coast of Brazil, and then ?jump? in 4-6 day non-stop flights of up to 5,000 miles, to the Atlantic coastline of the United States.. Birds navigate by celestial cues, perception of earth magnetic fields, and visual cues when over landforms. Excess heat built up by constant movement is drained off through their legs. Scientists have discussed whether or not part of the brain rests during flight. This is shown in the painting as some of the birds with open eyes, and some with a line showing the tightly closed eye. Current research suggests that many species of birds can stay awake, at maximum efficiency for many days in a row. The background is divided into night and day, sun and cloud. Storms may carry birds hundreds of miles off course. If travelling over ocean, course corrections are made based on non-visual references. Brazilian folk artist Jose Francisco Borges makes prints using cut wood blocks. He is internationally known and sought after for illustrations of his own and others? stories.