Hawk rescued after getting stuck in car grille

A student hit a red-tailed hawk while driving on the road and it got stuck in her car’s grille. Lynzee DeSantis was horrified when she saw its beak in her vehicle.

Luckily, a fellow driver had seen the whole thing and stopped to help. The rescue took a while and a paintbrush was utilized in the mission.

Lynzee DeSantis, 26, was driving near Humboldt State University where she is a student when a red-tailed hawk flew toward her car. She was travelling at about 55 miles an hour when the incident occurred.

The student tried to swerve her car to avoid hitting it. That's when the hawk's beak ended up stuck in the car's grille.

For more on this story go to our Twitter account @amomama_usa. DeSantis posted a video of the accident on Facebook and thanked the total stranger who stopped to help.

In the video, DeSantis could be heard sounding concerned as she says, "Oh my gosh.. it's still, it's still alive. Poor thing."

Fortunately, another motorist, Ryan Jensen, had come to the aid of the bird. He’s seen trying to pull the hawk from the car and then eventually goes to his vehicle to look for something to use.

Jensen, who is an artist, returns with a paint brush which he then uses to carefully loosen the hawk's beak. When the bird is released the artist holds on to the frightened animal to make sure it's okay.

He even checks to see if it injured its wings.

Seeing the bird up close, DeSantis retorts, "Holy cow! He's beautiful." Jensen walks the hawk over toward a grassy area and tries to comfort the animal which is clearly traumatized.

He then uses the paintbrush to hoist the bird up. The bird finally spreads its wings and flies away with no visible injuries.

In her Facebook post, the student wrote, "Wow- Red Tailed Hawk hit my car and this really awesome guy saved him!!"

She also praised Jensen for his heroism.

"I wanted to share the miracle and joy I felt in having this miracle happen and to highlight the kindness of a stranger, who didn't have to help me," DeSantis wrote. "I would've been freeing this bird on my own but because of him I had help. He is the hero, not me."

According to his artist biography online, Jensen is a true hero. He’s a Bay Area native and veteran who served eight years in the Marine Corps.

His service included three combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. Later on his own Facebook, he also shared the rescue video with the caption, "Came across the strangest thing yesterday. This is one lucky bird."

However, not all red-tailed hawks are as lucky as this one. Last year, in Massachusetts another hawk got stuck in the grille of an SUV.

It, unfortunately, sustained such severe injuries that it had to be euthanized. The bird had suffered eye injuries and fractures to both its wings and tail.

It was also unable to stand.