Further increasing the Federal deficit, one little bird at a time

As I noted in yesterday's post, I have been neglecting my writing duties because real life hit hard and fast.  We closed a deal last Friday, I had to buy birthday presents for a birthday party for Mini-K1, I had a presentation to about 120 people yesterday and oh, Mini-K2 is having surgery tomorrow.  It's been a good time.  So this article is somewhat late in posting, but it's such a good story I wanted to make sure I got it out there.

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The Anacostia River runs through the District of Columbia.  The DC Department of Transportation is building a new footbridge in Anacostia Park to cross the river.  Or rather, it was.  It seems that all construction has been put on hold for about two months while a 3-4 foot osprey nests in a 75-foot crane!  Because osprey are migratory birds -- this pair is thought to be from South America -- they are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prevents anyone from interfering with or harming migratory birds. 

 According to WAMU:

"It's got a dark eye stripe down one side and a very yellow eye. They're keeping an eye on us," says Rauch, a biologist with the District Department of the Environment.
 ....
"Unfortunately, [the osprey] thought it was just a tree. So it's got a great view of the river, they're safe from predators. So it's a perfect place for a nest."

My cousin M is my in-house expert on nature.  I passed the article along to her and she wrote back noting that osprey always carry the fish they catch parallel to their bodies, or face forward because it's more aerodynamic.

Good for the osprey family finding a safe nest!  Bad for Congress, who appropriates the money for D.C. construction projects....