A severe storm in Minnesota recently caused irreparable damage to many homes – including the home of a family of woodpeckers. But there is good news: social workers and animal caretakers were able to save the four babies, CBS reported.
After the storm knocked over their nesting tree, residents heard the small birds inside screaming. Concerned, they called Centennial Lakes Police Community Services, who immediately responded to the call.
“How cool is this! Our community service members were called to a Lexington residence because a tree had fallen and there were baby woodpeckers inside,” police wrote in a Facebook post documenting the rescue. Their photos show that the branch containing the nest was carefully sawed off and placed in the back seat of a police car.
From there, officials transported the nest to the nearby Roseville Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, where staff used more careful methods to safely remove all four baby woodpeckers.
“Not everyone thinks about whether there is wildlife in those fallen trees and branches,” CBS quoted Brittney Yohannes, communications and development director for the WRC, as saying. “Fortunately, woodpeckers are pretty loud.”
She said the center rehabilitates about 200 woodpeckers – as well as other bird species – each year, many of which are injured by trees that fall during storms.
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And although summer storms have been a regular occurrence for decades, they are becoming increasingly more severe – a phenomenon that many scientists link to global overheating.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), rising global temperatures correlate with, among other things, increasing extreme rainfall, severe tropical storms and an increase in flooding.
Thanks to the vigilance of the population and the immediate attention of the police and the WRC team, the lives of these four babies ended happily. They are only a few weeks old and are little more than balls of fluff. They are now nesting happily in an incubator where they are monitored by staff and fed every 20 minutes.
Yohannes explained that the babies will likely need to spend several weeks to several months at the WRC before they are strong enough to return to the wild.
“Being able to release these boys is a very special moment for everyone on our team,” she said.
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