It was mistaken for a Thanksgiving Day turkey, but a deputy who stopped a car on a local interstate soon discovered a bird stuck on a roof rack was actually a wild owl, WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio, reported.

Police said the driver told an Ohio County deputy he heard a thud while driving Tuesday evening, but didn't think anything of it.

Lt. Kevin Goode stopped the man after seeing the strange sight.

"I saw a vehicle in front of me that had something on the roof. I couldn't tell what it was," Goode said. "I could see the tail feathers sticking up fanned out. At first it almost looked like a small turkey."

Goode pulled the vehicle over to investigate.

"(The driver) was curious about why I stopped him. He thought that he had possibly violated a law," Goode said.

When Goode took a closer look, they discovered it was an 8- to 10-pound owl stuck on the roof of the SUV.

"The bird's right wing and right portion of its body was kind of wedged underneath the brace of the luggage rack," Goode said.

Over the course of more than a decade, Goode said he's seen plenty of strange sights on patrol, but nothing like that.

"This is the first time I've ever encountered an owl trapped on the top of a vehicle," he said.

The bird survived the accident and Goode called animal control officers to free it. They planned to take it to a zoo, but the animal did not make it through the night.