![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767941468_576_scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\")
Cummington Wildlife<\/p>\nA man in Amherst, Massachusetts, walked out to his car on New Year\u2019s Day and opened the door. To his utter disbelief, an owl stared back at him from the passenger seat headrest.<\/p>\n
Cummington Wildlife<\/p>\n
All of the car doors and windows were closed. The owl hadn\u2019t been there the last time the car was driven.<\/p>\n
The baffled man called Cummington Wildlife<\/a>, who directed him to Tom Ricardi, a licensed rehabilitator with Massachusetts Bird of Prey Rehab.<\/p>\n Based on the description the man gave, Ricardi expected to find an enormous bird waiting for him in the snow-covered car.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got there, it was a little five-inch owl,\u201d Ricardi told The Dodo. \u201cI kind of laughed.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricardi identified the bird as an eastern screech owl, but he was just as stumped as the caller about how the owl got into the car.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had birds go into the engine compartment to keep warm,\u201d he said. \u201cI think he came in probably through the air conditioning vent or something like that, because there was no other logical explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n Another mystery: Why would the owl go through all that trouble to sit shotgun in a car?<\/p>\n As soon as Ricardi gently reached in and picked up the owl, who\u2019d fallen asleep, he got his answer.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was literally starving,\u201d Ricardi said. \u201cHe was nothing \u2026 Very, very weak.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricardi believes the owl\u2019s frail condition combined with recent frigid temperatures sent the poor guy in search of shelter. In fact, Ricardi wondered if the bird hadn\u2019t snuck into the car elsewhere and hid under the seat for a couple days.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing they try to do is hide,\u201d Ricardi said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing \u2026 You know, screech owls have a very gentle nature about them.\u201d<\/p>\n Ricardi took the owl back to his rehab facility, where he offered the bird a hearty meal and gave him fluids. Within a few hours, the owl began eating on his own.<\/p>\n Once the temperatures warm up a bit, Ricardi plans to release the owl in a more owl-friendly area. For now, the sweet creature is recharging his batteries with Ricardi.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s doing very, very well,\u201d Ricardi said, noting, \u201cHe sleeps a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Which makes sense given the wild adventure he\u2019s already been on in 2026.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767941468_457_scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\")
Cummington Wildlife<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767941468_908_scale;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\")
Cummington Wildlife<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/crop;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\")
A screech owl curled up in the tiny crook of a tree. | Wendy Webb Photography\/iStock \/ Getty Images Plus<\/p>\n![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767941469_347_flatten;crop;webp=auto;jpeg_quality=60.jpg\")
<\/a>Woman Finds Someone Dangerous Wrapped Around Toaster And Makes Unexpected ChoiceAt first she didn’t mind … but the visitor wasn’t moving.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man in Amherst, Massachusetts, walked out to his car on New Year\u2019s Day and opened the door.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1285,61,60,110611,119965,3530,82,119964,1284,1282,263,25533],"class_list":{"0":"post-235632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-daily-dodo","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-owl","12":"tag-owl-in-car","13":"tag-sarah-ashley","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-screech-owl","16":"tag-standard","17":"tag-the-dodo","18":"tag-wildlife","19":"tag-wildlife-encounters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}