DuPont Nature Center, 2992 Lighthouse Road, Milford, DE (2026)

06/08/2026

As part of Meet the Species Mondays, we would like to introduce another critter that can be found off our coastline… the Northern moon snail!

Northern moon snails can be found as far north as Labrador, Canada down to North Carolina mainly in sandy, shallow waters, but have also been found in depths up to 1200 ft. They are typically a light brown or grey color with a smooth, round shell featuring a pretty spiral. Their foot can be twice the size of their shell and is used to dig up and trap prey from the sand. Northern moon snails typically live about 10-15 years, spending most of their life buried in the sand. They grow with their shell their whole life. When they die, their shell makes a great home for our local hermit crabs, who can be found in similar habitats around our coastline.

Moon snails are carnivorous and feed on clams and even other snails. Fun fact, when they find their prey, they will literally drill a hole into the prey’s shell with their sharp tongue or “radula”, which will then be used to suck out their prey! If you ever see a shell washed up with a perfect countersunk-like hole, that is most likely an animal eaten by a moon snail.

While many people scour our beaches looking for these neatly whirled shells, they may take you a few blue moons to come across a perfect one. When beachcombing, dig with caution. They reproduce long egg cases or “sand collars” which are fragile and can contain thousands of little baby moon snails. Live moon snails can sometimes be seen during low tide and are a great find when on the beach.

📷: DNC Staff

06/06/2026

It's new! It’s beautiful! It's the next round of our Environmental Art Showcase! We’re thrilled to announce that we’re now displaying art for our second theme: Delaware Bay Connections.

The Delaware Bay is a rich ecosystem, home to countless species that rely on the habitat throughout the year. This theme highlights remarkable connections animals have with the bay, between animals within the bay, and even the way that humans connect with the bay! From horseshoe crabs, to red knots feasting on their eggs, and the lighthouses that guide our ships, the Delaware Bay has immeasurable importance. The pieces featured are amazing artistic depictions of what some Delaware Bay connections can look like. Be sure to visit to see all the artworks on display from now through July!

Want a chance to have your work displayed at the Nature Center? Don’t forget– we’re still accepting submissions for our final showcase theme of the season, “Unique Shapes, Sizes, and Colors,” until July 1. To submit a piece of art for our last theme, or to find more information, visit our Showcase webpage at: https://dnrec.delaware.gov/fish-wildlife/education-outreach/dupont-nature-center/environmental-art-showcase/

Featured artwork and images by Rebecca Rogers, Gisele Muller-Parker, and Bev Pasquarella

06/05/2026

Upcoming Program: Storybook Saturday

Saturday, June 6 at 11 a.m.

We’re back with another Storybook Saturday program! Join us tomorrow morning where we will be reading “I Can Save the Ocean! The Little Green Monster Cleans Up the Beach” written by Alison Inches and illustrated by Viviana Garofoli. This book tells the story of Max the Little Green Monster and his transformation from a rude littering beach visitor to an ocean hero.

After we read the book, we'll do a fun educational activity all about what to do with things you might find on the beach.

All ages are welcome to attend this free program and no registration is required. For more information or any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 302-422-1329.

📷: DNC Staff

06/02/2026

Happy June! Looking for a great way to get the summer fun started? Check out our upcoming programs for the month on the flyer below!

We’ve got lots of horseshoe crab education coming your way, from horseshoe crab beach walks, to horseshoe crab feeding times, to presentations about horseshoe crabs’ roles in the Delaware Bay ecosystem. And to top it all off, we’ll be celebrating International Horseshoe Crab Day on June 20 with a series of specially-themed programs!

For more information about our programs, keep an eye on our page here, our program calendar on our website at de.gov/dnc or give us a call at 302-422-1329.

06/01/2026

June is National Ocean Month, and in partnership with DNREC’s social media series celebrating this, we’ll be joining in on their “Meet the Species Monday” posts! Each Monday throughout June we’ll be highlighting some of our staff’s favorite oceanic animals we can find off our coast. For our first Meet the Species Monday, please meet… the Atlantic spiny dogfish!

These small sharks are commonly found around Delaware’s waters, and only grow up to around four feet in length. Spiny dogfish are grey and white with distinct spots on their backs. They also have a pointed snout and spines in front of each of their 2 dorsal fins. Watch out for these spines if you decide to “Meet the Species” in person, as they are sharp and venomous!

They can often be seen hunting in packs just like dogs (hence the name dogfish). But don’t worry, you likely won’t see a pack heading anywhere towards you enjoying a swim, as these bottom dwellers focus their sights on small creatures around the sea floor. Smaller dogfish will mainly eat crustaceans while larger ones may look for jellyfish and even squid.

📷: NOAA Fisheries

05/30/2026

As you may know, there’s a full moon tonight! Technically, it will be the fullest at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, but if you take a peek out your window this evening, the moon will be beaming brightly in the sky. This particular full moon is also a blue moon, meaning the second full moon within the calendar month. What a coincidence – the night of the blue moon is also going to be a big night for our blue blooded horseshoe crabs!

If you find yourself taking a moonlit stroll this evening, keep an eye out for piles of horseshoe crabs emerging at high tide for this remarkable spawning phenomenon. But why do they enjoy the full moon? Full moons bring higher tides, and the horseshoe crabs want to get as high up on the shoreline as they can (while still staying wet) when laying their eggs. Therefore, some of the best times to spot large spawning groups of our eight-legged friends is during our new and full moons at high tide, like tonight!

📷: DNC Staff

05/28/2026

Upcoming Programs!

Friday, May 29 at 2 p.m. → Horseshoe Crabs and the Delaware Bay Presentation

Have you ever wondered why so many horseshoe crabs are appearing along our local shorelines? In this special presentation, you’ll get to learn all about these amazing ancient creatures, why they are here, what they are doing, and other fun facts about how they play a big part in the ecosystem. This presentation lasts around 45 min – 1hr and is great for all ages 10+.

Saturday, May 30 at 9 a.m. → Horseshoe Crab Beach Walk

Come on down to Marvel Drive in Slaughter Beach, where our naturalists will discuss all about horseshoe crabs while looking for them along the shore. This program is great for all ages and requires walking about half a mile on the sand.

📷: DNC Staff

05/26/2026

A wise person once said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” This saying holds true whether you’re talking about the couch you can’t imagine parting with, your favorite well-worn shirt, or even horseshoe crabs!

Our horseshoe crabs have seen the continents shift and oceans move. They’ve seen dinosaurs come and go. They’ve come face-to-face with mass extinctions and won every time, all while maintaining (more or less) the same body shape and lifestyle. Early on in their evolutionary history, they decided that they weren’t broke and didn’t need any fixing! But how have they managed to live for so long?

There are a few key pieces in horseshoe crabs’ survival strategy. First, the shape of their shell makes it so that they have very few natural predators. Our horseshoe crabs are also tolerant to changing environmental conditions, surviving in a wide range of salinities and oxygen levels. They’re also the opposite of picky eaters. Horseshoe crabs will eat just about anything they can find on the seafloor, from worms to mollusks to plants. This means that even as our oceans and the species living in them have changed, our horseshoe crabs have always been able to keep crawling along and know where their next meal was coming from.

Even though horseshoe crabs look similar to their millions-of-years-old ancestors, that doesn’t mean they haven’t evolved– they’ve just found a lifestyle and body plan that works for them. So, if anyone gives you a hard time for holding onto something old, just tell them you’re doing it the horseshoe crab way!

📷: DNC staff

05/23/2026

It’s World Turtle Day! Every year in May we celebrate this day in honor of it being a major time for turtle nesting season. And with so many different turtle species around us here in the Delaware Bay, we see it as a perfect reason to shell-ebrate our local animals.

One of our favorite and commonly spotted local turtle species is the diamondback terrapin (seen here). Known for their unique shell features, they will soon be coming out of the bays to lay their eggs on the sandy dunes. While some little terrapins who overwintered in their eggs have already hatched and made their way to the marshes, many more will come as we get into the summer months. Keep an eye out for these turtles as they cross our local beach roads to lay their eggs, and for the hatchlings making their way back to the wetlands!

While not as commonly seen as our diamondback terrapins, loggerhead sea turtles are another important species we can find in the Delaware Bay, and are in fact Delaware’s state sea turtle! Featuring flippers instead of claws, loggerheads are one of the larger sea turtle species that can be found, and love to search our bays for tasty bites of clams, mussels, and even horseshoe crabs.

Believe it or not, another species that can be found in our local rivers and creeks leading into the Delaware Bay are snapping turtles. While they mainly reside in freshwater, they are known to frequent brackish water areas from time to time. You may even find them close to a mile away from their home waters looking for the perfect spot to lay their eggs, which can sometimes number up to 50 per nest!

Turtle-ly excited about these facts and want to know more? Stop by the nature center, or grab your shell-phone and give us a call at 302-422-1329.

📷: DNC Staff / Kayla Gonzon

05/20/2026

“I will eat them in a box. And I will eat them with a fox. And I will eat them in a house. And I will eat them with a mouse. And I will eat them here and there. Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!” – Roger Red Knot (and also Dr. Seuss)

We have been spotting red knots around the harbor these past few weeks as they stop here along their amazing migratory routes. But why are they here? Green eggs, of course!

Many of our red knots winter far to the south in the Tierra del Fuego region of Argentina and Chile. As winter approaches in South America, the red knots begin their journey north to enjoy the warming spring and summer weather of the Northern Hemisphere on their way to their nesting grounds in the Canadian Arctic, a journey of around 9,000 miles!

But the craziest thing about this journey is that they may stop only two or three times, meaning they fly thousands of miles nonstop. One of the most critical stops is right here along Delaware Bay, where they feast on millions of tiny green horseshoe crab eggs along the shoreline. Red knots rely on these eggs to refuel and build enough strength and energy to complete the final leg of their monumental journey.

Want to learn more about our red knots, or maybe even catch a glimpse of one? Stop by the Nature Center to discover amazing facts about these avian athletes and try to spot one enjoying the Delaware Bay buffet!

📷: Rob Robinson

DuPont Nature Center

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