Thank you, @litguru! My granddaughter and I were fascinated by the little sand crabs. She kept trying to rescue them by sending them out to sea again😄
I found a couple of references to sightings of them on Vancouver Islands. Don't know how close that is to where you are.
https://gohiking.ca/animals/birds/shorebirds/sanderling/
They are cool birds, aren't they? It was a pleasure to watch them chase the waves.
It seems like the strong sense of empathy runs in the family 😃
The islands are relatively far, accessible by ferries, but given that the sanderlings are migratory birds, they may have stopped here on their way to their destination. I'll keep my eyes open when I'm hanging out at the beach.