Could it be Botulism? We have it frequently here in The Netherlands during
hot spells. The treatment is to flush water into the bird to clean the
inside. Waders are very vulnerable so be careful but some make it.
All the best, Norman

Robert Wallace asked: >Does anyone know what this might be?<

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, August 6, 2006 7:28:14 PM
Subject: [BRDBRAIN] Shorebirds Alert

Just wanted to send an alert out to all of you folks who might be birding
on the beaches within the next couple of weeks/months…

We are experiencing a small wave of shorebirds coming into the Seabird
Sanctuary that are unable to fly and cannot use their legs.  At this time
its been a couple of Sanderlings, 1 Red Knot and I believe 3
Oystercatchers.  I had to go out to the beach today to rescue a little
Sanderling that was face down in the sand with the gulls getting ready to
gang up on him; he was very skinny as well.

Weve seen this in the past…  2 years ago or so we got a large amount of
Red Knots and then last year we got a lot of Sanderlings with this problem.

So, if you could just keep an extra eye out for these kids…  If you see
any unable to move or fly please call us or any licensed rehabber.

Thanks!

Scott
Scott Patterson
St. Petersburg, FL
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http://community.webshots.com/user/scottfla72