Seabird sanctuary survives Helene with no loss of life

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, located on the beach side of Gulf Boulevard in Indian Shores, took a major hit from Hurricane Helene’s storm surge.

Incredibly, the facility did not lose a single bird.

When staff and volunteers returned Sept. 27, the morning after the hurricane, they found the sandy 1 ½ acre compound covered with debris. “Things are looking better as we’re clearing things out, but we did sustain a lot of damage,” hospital director Melissa Edwards said Wednesday morning.

“All of our buildings – the hospital and the offices – have some degree of water damage that’s going to require remediation. And a few of our enclosures are going to have to be demoed and rebuilt entirely. Pretty much every enclosure needs something.”

Formerly known as the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, the rescue/rehab operation has been taking in sick and injured birds since the early 1970s – in its heyday, as many as 45,000 annually.

There is a resident population of brown pelicans, deemed unreleasable due to injury. There are approximately 100 permanent residents, including eagles, hawks, owls and other birds of prey, as well as gulls, terns and other shorebirds.

“Thankfully,” Edwards reported, “all of our residents are OK. We were able to move some off-site, and secure some in our hospital before the storm. Right now, we still have our resident pelicans on-site, but we’re working to temporarily place some of our others. A lot of our raptors and Avian Ambassadors went over to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary in Jupiter, Florida, just temporarily. And we’re working with a few other local organizations as well.”

It’s not known, she said, how long it will take “until everything is secure for all the birds at the sanctuary.”

All resident birds and current hospital patients are accounted for. “Honestly,” Edwards said, “I was a little surprised, because of all the water that was in the buildings. But we didn’t lose anybody. And we’re really grateful for that.”

Thanks to “incredible” community support, she said, the sanctuary hopes to be back in business, partially, soon. “At least being able to take some of the most critical injured birds in the area, and being able to rehabilitate them. And we want to get our residents birds back as soon as we can.”

Calls have been coming in reporting storm-injured birds – mostly broken wings and legs. “And unfortunately, we’re starting to see some red tide-related illness; any time we have a storm, the red tide blooms often happen. So we’re going to start seeing more of that as well.”

For the time being, she suggested that anyone with an injured bird contact Owls Nest Sanctuary For Wildlife (call (813) 598-5926) or Blue Pearl Veterinary Hospital (number, website).

“And if we’re able to take in any, we will,” Edwards added. “We’re just unfortunately having to limit all of our intakes right now.”

Seaside Seabird Sanctuary website

ADDITIONAL READING: For the birds: Ralph Heath’s long, strange flight path