alyssa with hurt sanderling bird

I was shocked when Alyssa showed me a SANDERLING she was cradling in her hands. She had found the little bird on the beach unable to fly so she picked him up because she thought his wings were broken. Oh my! But hold on, the story gets a little crazy so let me back up a bit so I can explain the whole experience.

Clark and I ran into Donnie and his two daughters Alyssa and Holly at the lighthouse beach this morning.

dad with girls on sanibel beach

Holly couldn’t wait to show me her shelling bucket full of cute shells she found…

Holly with shell bucket sanibel

Alyssa is an amazing sheller so she was finding all sorts of great shells but she had befriended a tiny little LEOPARD CRAB…

live leopard crab

As I was talking to another couple that hangs out here at iLoveShelling, Ken and Sue……

Ken Sue shellig lighthouse junonia wet suit

Then the craziness began!

sanderling bird in the hand sanibel florida

Alyssa brought the little SANDLERLING over to show me, so I called Clark back over to help with the bird. Guess who he brought back with him…… Mother Earth Marilyn!!!! OMG Do you remember her? I met Marilyn last year because she helped me rescue Sandy The Sanderling! What are the chances?

i Love Shelling unites Sheller

In the midst of all this, I saw Karen from Kansas with an iLoveShelling tee on so I had to call her over to say “hi”. So before I knew it, we had a whole group of iLoveShelling-ers standing there all together! From left to right- Andrea (Pompano, FL), me, SS (shelling sister with her tee!) Karen, little Holly, Donnie, Allysa (with the Sanderling in her hands!), Ken, Super Sheller Clark and Mother Earth Marilyn who cannot take her eye off that Sanderling ;). I would have loved to stay and talk to this fabulous crowd but we had to get ….. errrr… “Andy” The Sanderling to CROW asap.

crow rehabilitation of wildlife sanibel

The doctor at CROW said his wings were not broken. She said it was it was probably neurological issues caused by RED TIDE. Yikes! She said there is no medication for this but keeping him warm with fluids will be the best way to nurse him back to health to release him. She didn’t see why he wouldn’t make a full recovery. Thank you again CROW! But the big Thank You goes to you, Alyssa, for rescuing this handsome little creature, Andy the Sanderling.

alyssa with andy the sanderling