Library of Congress hawk headed for rehab

Regular readers will recall that last week Wednesday (January 19, 2011), a Cooper's hawk was spotted in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress (above).

In today's Washington Post story by Elizabeth Flock [sic], we learn that "A female Cooper's hawk that spent a week trapped in the Library of Congress was safely captured Wednesday and taken to a rehabilitation center in Virginia.

"The hawk caught the public's imagination as it eluded would-be rescuers and swooped over researchers' heads in the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room. It even snatched frozen quail from a trap without being caught.

"At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, a three-member team led by representatives of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia captured the bird using a caged pair of starlings, named Frick and Frack, as bait. It took 25 minutes.

[Below, the raptor and its captors.]

[From left: Kennon Smith, a federally licensed raptor bander; Linda Moore, vice president of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia; and Craig Kopple, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.]

"While the hawk was in the library, it cultivated an audience that tracked its antics closely. Library staff members frequently visited the reading room to check up on the bird; one regularly brought binoculars to view it up close.

"Bird experts from across the nation offered their help. Some worried that the hawk would die. The hawk was captured weighing 424 grams and was called 'emaciated' by conservancy Vice President Linda Moore. The bird was taken to the conservancy in Falls Church.

"After it is restored to health, the hawk will be released into the wild, far from the Library of Congress, Moore said."