The hawk that made headlines last month for flying into the Library of Congress has been returned to the wild. The juvenile female Cooper’s Hawk has been under the care of the Falls Church-based Raptor Conservancy of Virginia since it was brought out of the library.
The hawk that made headlines last month for flying into the Library of Congress has been returned to the wild. The juvenile female Cooper’s Hawk has been under the care of the Falls Church-based Raptor Conservancy of Virginia since it was brought out of the library.
“The Coop has flown the coop,” said Kent Knowles, president of the Raptor Conservancy, said of the bird, which was released by Raptor Conservancy Vice President Linda Moore at Sky Meadow State Park at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The bird was kept at the conservancy to gain weight, as it weighed 425 grams upon capture and should have weight about 525 grams. According to Knowles, the bird was able to gain the weight with ease, and then some.
“She now weighs 565 grams, which is an awful lot of eating in an awful short amount of time,” Knowles said. “It gained weight faster than we thought it was going to gain weight.”
Knowles said that the hawk can look forward to a very productive future at the park.
“The park was happy to have it there because they have an overload of starlings,” Knowles said.
