BETHESDA

DOUBLE HAWK HOMICIDE

SPURS INVESTIGATION

Two Dead Cooper's Hawks Found at Pool on

Little Falls Parkway; Cause of Death a Mystery

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

Paging Ace Ventura, Pet Detective! A Bethesda resident near Little Falls Stream Valley Park reports that two Cooper's hawks were found dead by the public pool on Little Falls Parkway.

The deaths immediately raised suspicions and concerns, as these hawks are fierce predators and their natural enemies are essentially non-existent in lower Montgomery County. Furthermore, neither hawk had any obvious external injuries.

Speculative causes of death might include disease and intentional or accidental poisoning.

Because there are implications for both people and wildlife whenever a "bird kill" occurs, one of the hawks is being sent for testing via the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Test results are pending.

It is unknown if this was a mated pair of hawks, and what the gender of each was. However, it is known that hawks are monagamous birds who mate for life.

Was this a Shakespearian death, where the male and female spent their final moments together? Or could they have been placed there?

We may never know, but we should eventually know the cause of death.

I sincerely hope this was not the result of someone perpetrating intentional harm on these birds. They are very impressive creatures.

I once had a chance to observe one from a window a few yards away. The hawk had been surrounded by a large flock of crows, not an uncommon occurance. (Crows don't like hawks in their territory, because they can't compete with the hawk's superior hunting skills). You can easily tell the hawk is a fierce predator by his barrel-chested muscular bulk and extremely sharp bill. I noticed he could swivel his head nearly 360 degrees. And he was totally unintimidated by the ugly crow gang, despite being greatly outnumbered. The only other hawks I've seen were swooping down to grab birds, and they are only a blur when they do that.

So, again, to have two hawks dead in the same place is quite unusual and very suspicious. Searching the internet, I found only two recent "bird kills" in Maryland. A credible one was the widely-reported death of 100+ starlings on I-95 in Laurel. An incredible one was a Weekly World News report that a UFO had shot down birds in Maryland with laser beams.

Allllrighty then.

Fear not citizens, these hawks were not zapped by the little green men in their flying saucer.

But something killed them, and hopefully we will soon know what it was.

It's worth noting that a few years ago, bird kills revealed the presence of West Nile disease in Montgomery County. So these phenomena need to be taken seriously. Sometimes nature serves as a warning system to us.

Are there any suspicious bird deaths in your local neighborhood matching the description of the hawk case (no external injuries)? Leave your reports in the comment section below.

Stay tuned for the test results and any further developments in this story.