Woman Saves Pileated Woodpecker Stuck in Car Grille

Arianna had just stopped at a parking lot when she heard an unusual noise coming from the car she pulled up next to. It was a bird crying out in distress. Arianna began looking around and that’s when she spotted the pileated woodpecker. The poor bird was jammed in the car’s bumper. His entire body was stuck but it didn’t look like he had any severe injuries so Arianna began to work to free him.

Of course the bird was terrified, but once Arianna freed him she wrapped him in a sweater and took a closer look at how he was doing. As luck would have it another driver had noticed what was going on and came over to her and he used to work with rehabilitating wildlife. He assisted her and they determined the bird “only had a minor scrape on his leg.”

They gave the woodpecker some water and soon after he flew away to a nearby tree. Arianna wrote in her video’s caption, “We were so glad to see him fly off after giving him some water and assessing him.”

She added, “The poor thing seemed to be in shock more than anything else.” She waited around for a bit just to be sure the bird had recovered. She had to marvel at how fortunate it was that she ended up in the right place at the right time to rescue him, noting she doesn’t usually visit this particular parking lot.

“I parked in a lot that I don’t usually park in and happened to pull in next to this car. I have no idea how long he had been stuck there. And what are the odds that someone that used to work with rehabilitating wildlife happened to be driving by?” Arianna wondered. “I am so glad the stars aligned to save the guy!”

Arianna also let people know that she started filming the rescue “in case the owner of the car came back wondering what I was doing to their car.”

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