I have been following this story closely for several days and while our President was delivering his State of The Union Address last night, the group in the following story was plotting the capture of this free-spirited Raptor who had the run of The Library of Congress for about a week.
Let me say that I am not very happy about this:
" The elusive "LOC Nest Monster" has met her match.
The hawk that has been avoiding capture inside the Library of Congress was finally corralled at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday by bird experts.
A team of three rescuers -- Kennon Smith, a federally licensed raptor bander who volunteers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Linda Moore, Vice President of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia; and Craig Koppie, an eagle/raptor biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- used two European starlings to bait and trap the hawk."
I know the hawk was treated well and hopefully she is now back with her family, but really, how cool would it have been to keep her as a permanent resident in this national landmark.? So they would have to feed her a few times a week and maybe deal with a few droppings from time to time. Big Deal! We make such a big deal over the Bald Eagle, which is basically a scavenger, and ignore the majestic hawk. Everytime I have seen Bald Eagles in the wild they were either nesting or feeding on something that some other animal had killed or washed up on shore. But Hawks, and I see many on my frequent hikes, are alway in motion, whether gracefully riding a thermal to rise high in the sky or diving downward to get a rabbit or mouse. I think of the Bald Eagle as a 747 and the hawk as F16 fighter jet! I doubt if congress would ever consider replacing the Bald Eagle with a Hawk as the symbol of America, but they would have my full support to do it.
But here is the real kicker, keeping the hawk in the library would be a novelty, kind of like the Phantom of the Opera. People would come to the library just to see her. We could even have a national contest to name her with the first prize being a lunch in The Rose Garden with Michelle Obama!
What a great way to get people into the library. Think about all the times you have been to Washington to see the sights. But how many of you, myself included, have never put a foot inside the Library of Congress?
I went to Wikipedia just to find out more about the LOC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress and boy was I impressed. What a history, and of what an impressive collection of books.
Too bad, only members of congress can check out the books, but there are lots opportunities for us common people to explore the building, its collections and other public programs. This web site gives you an idea of all that is offered at the LOC. http://www.loc.gov/index.html
This place is now on my bucket list for sure. It's just too bad I won't have the opportunity for a hawk sighting while inside.
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