Hope I did the right thing...

[otter]

I was at the beach today and saw a little ball of fuzz run across the beach, of course with Nolie and her buddy not far behind. The poor little thing was probably scared to death. I cried as I saw it run into the crashing waves and cold waters of Lake Superior, I said a little prayer for the poor thing as I saw it bob in the waves for a few minutes and then disappear



But wait.... I walked a few feet down the beach and saw a sodden little clump of feathers on the beach, the little guy/girl had washed up on shore.

So, i picked up the little lifeless body, fearing for the worst but, after a big sneeze, the tiny thing started chirping

I had no idea what to do with the little thing, I was far from home, out on the beach with two dogs (who may have thought the little thing would make a nice snack) so I took the frozen little thing in my hand, held it close to my body for warmth and took it with me as we continued our walk back towards the car.

After about 20min, it's feathers started to fluff up and it stopped shivering. I opened my hand to give it a couple of puffs of warm air to get the final feathers fluffed and the little thing jumped from my hand and scampered off under a little spruce. Just at that moment I heard a call from a very similar sounding bird... so it gave me hope that it might be mom .

I have no idea if my little fuzz ball will survive but I will give a few more prayers for the little one

I think it was a baby Killdeer... given the shape of it's wings and little "squeeks"

A couple of pics for you (my thumb gives a size reference... it was about the size of an egg... but it had HUGE feet! )

and he/she grows big and strong