Florida seabirds nearly buried alive by storm surge rescued by Good Samaritans

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. — It was an incredible stroke of luck for two shorebirds on Indian Rocks Beach after two kids walking the beach found them buried up to their necks in sand.

ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska talked to the Good Samaritan, who did not want to go on camera. But he basically said he was with friends at the beach when one of the kids, a 2-year-old, tried to pet the cormorant buried against the seawall and got bit. After running to his parents' crying, Rusty Craig said his son Alex, 4, found another bird.

Watch full video of rescue from Rusty Craig

"If they hadn't been out there, these birds may not have made it?" Paluska asked Shelley Vickery, Director of the non-profit Birds in Helping Hands.

"That's true," Vickery said. "If he hadn't gone over and tried to pet them and scream. They would still be out there and dead by now, for sure."

Vickery said they have a team of about a hundred volunteers that help transport injured birds to various hospitals. She said she is still getting calls about injured birds following Hurricane Milton.

"We're seeing a lot of birds with injured wings, a lot of them with broken wings," Vickery said. "The people doing the beach cleanup are calling us several times a week for birds still found on the beach, and they found one under somebody's dresser. They found one still alive under their dresser a day or two after when it was safe to go there."

Usually, Vickery transports the birds to the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary on Indian Shores. However, the storm surge during Hurricane Helene damaged their hospital.

"We can see all this destruction, but when you see all these beautiful birds fly over, it really does give you hope," Paluska said to Dylan Kahn, Assistant Hospital Manager at Seaside Seabird Sanctuary. "It does, yeah. I mean, they're incredible animals; they're keystone species for the ecosystems they live in. You know, many scientists and researchers will use birds to measure the health of wetlands, beach habitats, and dune habitats. To see them being affected is a clear indication that a lot is wrong right now, but they really are, you know, incredible creatures, and they're so important to the health of our ecosystems."

Kahn said they launched aGoFundMe to help replace lost items. But they have a long road ahead before they can start taking injured birds.

"It's challenging. With the debris and all of that stuff, there is a major need to rescue birds," Kahn said. "Now, this time of year, hurricane season also coincides with fall migration, so you have a lot of birds that were in their migratory route that are already, you know, very weakened and things like that; migration is very taxing on birds, especially like the shorebirds and seabirds that can migrate 1000s of miles."

"We were excited, and we were so grateful for Rusty," Vickery said. "He got bit up because cormorants do that. So he had to go through getting bit up, and he did his best. He did a great job."

If you see a sick or injured bird, it is always best to call experts for help. But, if you can safely help a bird that is clearly in need, Vickery said they can always come to pick it up and get it to the proper rescue.

The two cormorants are at the Paul A. and Veronica H. Gross Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida.

"They had this will to live out there two days not being able to move, so we were excited to help them and then kind of broken-hearted that they were out there for two days," Vickery said.

Those birds are going to make it?" Paluska asked.

"Those birds are doing great. I checked with the facility in Venice. They were standing up and doing well, so we were excited about that," she said.