This report came via email from author Phillip Hoose who is on Delaware Bay banding shorebirds and hoping to spot B95, the subject of his award-winning book, Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95.

“Two young Quebecois biologists—Yann Rochepault and Christophe Buidin– snapped these photos yesterday morning at Fortescue Beach on the Bay’s Jersey Side.

‘It seems like B95 is continuing his publicity tour!’ said Charles Duncan of the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences.

I was there yesterday; I missed B95 by about an hour.   He has made four appearances now, on three different beaches.   All who have seen him—five folks in all—comment that he looks great; in good plumage, already getting chunky, and vigorous in feeding.   His breeding plumage is part-way in.   He arrived early this year, as did many birds.

Five key crab spawning beaches were completely restored from the work of Sandy—a local coalition of private and public entities raised 1.4 million and purchased 35,000 cubic yards of sand from a local mine.  They trucked it in hundreds of loads and finished spreading it just before the crabs began to spawn in late April.   It worked beautifully:  all five beaches are well used by spawning crabs now.   Theres a feeling of optimism down there this year, despite roadways narrowed by towering heaps of sand, and Katrina-like destruction of beach houses.  B95, who keeps returning no matter what, is a great symbol of hope.”