Vultures In DC?

Saying that there are vultures in Washington, DC wouldn’t surprise anyone. Saying that they are the actual avian vultures would especially since they’ve made their home, appropriately enough, on lobbyist-infested K-Street.

From the Washington Post

Bird experts speculate that this is a breeding pair of black vultures staking out a new territory and feeding ground. The urban dwellers of DC seem to be fascinated by the pair.

But two vultures in the city are less of an annoyance and more a source of wonder. Described as the “garbage men of nature,” the birds often are seen hunched over roadkill on country roads, but Dupuy said it’s possible they could be living off dead squirrels and other city animals. Unlike hawks that find their food by seeing it, he said vultures use their sense of smell, following the scent of decay to its source (cue the “House of Cards” references).

On a recent afternoon as people walked past the spot where the vultures now nest, many tried to guess what carrion had drawn them to the area. A few people blamed the rise in food trucks and the waste from restaurants. Others let their minds go to more humorous places. One Department of Homeland Security employee who asked not to be identified, undoubtedly because he’s not authorized to discuss vultures, suggested they were “after Obama’s political appointees.”

I think the DHS employee may be on something given the way President Obama throws his appointees under the bus on a regular basis.

It could also be that the vultures are staking out a new feeding ground in anticipation of the November elections. If they go the way I’d like to see and that the polls seem to indicate that they are trending, there will be plenty of carcasses coming from the majority side of the US Senate for these vultures to feast on in a metaphorical sense. If Speaker of the NC House Thom Tillis doesn’t blow it, the accidental career of Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) will be one of them.