“The Divine communicates to us primarily through the language of the natural world. Not to hear the natural world is not to hear the Divine.” -Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe
In 2024, I began hearing about the kinship between red knot, the migratory shorebird, and horseshoe crab. First through the Southern Environmental Law Center’s (SELC) summer newsletter featuring an insightful article by South Carolina-based ornithologist J Drew Lanham. Around the same time, I heard mention of these beings in an interview or presentation with two well-known naturalist writers. The universe got my attention and thus sparked my interest in learning about this sacred contract, or covenant, between two species mediated by the moon—inspiring “Covenant of the Species” above.
You can hear red knot sing here.
Every spring, red knot makes a nearly 10,000 mile migration from the tip of South America to their Arctic breeding grounds. On their journey, they stop on or near the full moon to feed on millions of horseshoe crab eggs—primarily in the Delaware Bay—bulking up their body weight and allowing them to continue on their yearly pilgrimage. As a kid, I remember seeing horseshoe crabs along New England beaches not knowing they are one of the oldest living creatures on our planet having first appeared 250 millions year ago! In addition to being hunted for bait, they also have a blue blood, the color of the sky in my painting, that is being sourced by pharmaceutical companies ($60,000 per gallon) for life-saving drugs and vaccines.
Thankfully, more awareness of this ancient covenant between two species is coming to awareness and there are some protections in place for now. The red knot has been listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act but is also in a precarious position with warming temperatures. If they should arrive too early or too late, they could miss the opportunity to feed and with ice caps melting in the Arctic, climate change would likely impact their survival.
What does an ethics of care look like as we navigate a changing world? What is our duty to protect what is wild and precious? As our world heats up, fires burn around across the globe, and the current administration continues to strip protection of endangered species, there is an urgent need to speak up for our creatures, those who can not speak for themselves. This is my hope and my prayer for this sacred art. May it be so.
The Divine is communicating to us through the natural world, to quote Berry. Are we listening?
