LEHIGH ACRES, FLORIDA: For more than a year, a Florida couple had been trying to figure out what was causing damage to their vehicles. The Dreschers live in Lehigh Acres and noticed damage to their new Honda about a year ago.
"I just came home one afternoon and just noticed something was weird about the plastic," Regina Drescher said, per NBC. "So, I went to check it out."
Florida man and his wife thought cars were 'attacked by something'
She observed damage on both sides of her windshield, resembling peck marks through the tough plastic. On the other side, it looked like something had been nibbling away at the rubber seal. "It looked like it had been attacked by something," she said.
"The paint was all scratched up like something was trying to get down in there," Regina said. "It’s sort of been one of those things that we just wrote off and said we have no idea," added Scott.
A year later, the same thing happened once again, but this time it was Scott's pickup truck that was affected. "Jumped up and looked on the top of my truck and saw the damage," Scott said.
They realized it had to be the same thing that had happened to Regina's car a year ago. "Put two and two together, and it’s got to be the same thing," he said.
What was damaging the Florida couple's cars?
Surprisingly, it's neither a large animal nor an unfriendly neighbor causing the issue. Instead, the culprits are two small birds. "I took a picture of them and when I zoomed in on the picture I could see them nibbling on his sunroof," Regina said.
The birds were Crested Caracaras, a protected migratory species native to Southwest Florida. They are opportunistic feeders and are known to scavenge for food, including carrion (dead animals), as well as hunting for small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects.
Why were the birds harming cars in Florida?
"I’m befuddled. I don’t know," Scott said. "I don’t know what they could be going for. I don’t know what the attraction to car trim is." "I don’t know if they’re after some kind of bug or something," Regina added.
"We like having them around, but we don’t want them chewing on our cars," Regina said. Now, she parks her car in the garage.
They are thinking of getting a wooden owl to keep the birds away from Scott's truck. "It’s bizarre to have a bird eating your car," Scott said.
Florida man finds iguana in toilet bowl
In another unusual incident, a Florida couple had an unexpected visitor make its way into their home. The man found a green iguana inside the toilet bowl when he lifted the seat to use the restroom.
His wife Crystal Collins said, "We both looked at each other like what are we going to do? I joked about burning the house down but the reality (was) how are we getting this out? Neither of us do lizards," as per CBS News.
