CORAL SPRINGS (CBS4) – It seems cats aren’t the only animals with nine lives. A small bird is lucky to be alive after being hit by a car and surviving while lodged inside the grill of the car.

A woman accidentally struck the bird, an apparent monk parakeet, over the weekend while driving but assumed the bird had probably died and was in the road, according to Coral Springs Fire Dept. Captain Michael Moser.

However, when she woke up the next morning and went to her car, she heard a bird chirping. When she went to investigate, she found the small green parakeet stuck in the grill of her car. The woman drove to Coral Springs Fire Station 43 and asked them for help. It took about ten minutes for firefighters to remove the grill of her car and free the bird.

The Coral Springs Police Department Humane Unit was called and took the parakeet to the Sawgrass Nature center for rehab. It will eventually be released back into the wild.

South Florida has a large population of wild monk parakeets.