It was a bird of passenger.
A sick Big Apple swan was taken to an animal rescue in the most New York City way possible — the subway.
Good Samaritan Ariel Cordova-Rojas last Thursday brought the suffering swan all the way from Jamaica Bay to Nostrand Avenue station in Brooklyn, where a rehab center took over the bird’s care.
The bird’s presence really caused a flap on the A train, Cordova-Rojas told The Post.
“People were asking me, ‘Oh my god is that a pet? What are you doing with this animal?’” she said. “I told them that I was a wildlife rehabilitator and the swan was hurt and I was taking her to safety.”
“You’re in New York City. People don’t expect to see them, but we have so much wildlife around us.”
A former animal care manager, Cordova-Rojas first spotted the female swan sulking alone on the water at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, she said.
When she approached the bird, which she later named Bae, the animal did not move or make noise — a sign that something was wrong. She wrapped the 17-pound animal in her jacket and carried it out of the park to take it to her former employer, the Wild Bird Fund on the Upper West Side.
On the way, other park goers offered to help — including a husband and wife who recruited a friend to drive Cordova-Rojas and Bae to the Howard Beach subway station.
At the station, the husband, an MTA employee, helped Cordova-Rojas get herself, her bike and Bae onto a westbound train.
An MTA spokesman confirmed the employee officially authorized Bae to enter the subway system after being assured she “would be handled securely.”
Everything from there was smooth sailing. The duo disembarked at Nostrand Avenue, where the Wild Bird Fund met them to transport Bae to its rehab center on the Upper West Side, she said.
Cordova-Rojas later found out that park-goers had been trying to help Bae for a week.
“No one was able to do it,” she said – saying her rescue was simply a case of the “right place, right time, [and] right set of skills.”
“This was definitely the most elaborate animal I’ve had to rescue,” she said.
“But for me, it was just a common occurrence to see an animal in peril and try to help it out the best I can.”
Wild Bird Fund director Rita McMahon told NBC New York the bird is being treated for lead poisoning, and is also receiving anti-fungal medication.
McMahon said the bird is “feeling pretty good.”