Readers’ wildlife photos

June 11, 2023 • 8:15 am

It’s Sunday, and so we have a themed batch of bird photos by John Avise. (I forgot to put this batch up last week!). Today’s theme is “sports”; John’s narrative and captions are indented, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

Mascot Birds 

Many people love and admire birds, and perhaps nowhere is this fact evidenced more clearly than in the naming of many sports teams after charismatic avian species.  This week’s post shows several examples of birds that are the mascots of various professional sports teams.  Readers can no doubt think of additional examples in which professional, college, or high school teams have particular avian mascots.

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), adult male;  Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball:

Baltimore Oriole, juvenile male:

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata); Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball:

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis); New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball League:

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), male; Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League and the Saint Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball:

Northern Cardinal, female:

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), juvenile; Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League:

Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus); Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association:

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis);  Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association:

Red-tailed Hawk, dark morph; Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League:

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus), male; Detroit Redwings of the National Hockey League:

Red-winged Blackbird, female:

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos); Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League:

King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus); Pittsburgh Penguins, National Hockey League:

11 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photos”

  1. I admit – I never knew that’s what “red wings” means. I love my Red Wing boots even more now!

  2. Thanks John. I had never thought about how many sports teams had bird mascots.

  3. Love the golden eagle picture.

    I have only ever seen one in the wild. I was driving home from the restaurant, and it was just sitting on a rock on the side of the road. It was HUGE.

    When I got home I looked it up in Birds of NM, which lists them as a common species in my area. Maybe, but I have never seen another one.

    I can’t imagine how many calories it must take for something that large to get off the ground.

    L

  4. Nice photos, but a couple of caveats regarding mascots–I don’t believe the Red Wings of Detroit have any connection to a bird, and the Toronto Raptors are dinos from Jurassic Park–although birds are dinos, so maybe . . . .

  6. As noted, the Toronto (Veloci)Raptors were named for a close relative, but not avians.

    Neglected, perhaps an egregious omission on WEIT, are teams whose mascots are certain kinds of waterfowl: The Anaheim Ducks, the Oregon Ducks. The presentation seemed to include only professional teams, so the omission of the U of O mascot may be forgiven.

    1. Also, the Long Island Ducks, a minor league baseball team. Their mascot is the Pekin Duck, a breed of the domestic Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) raised for meat; there are many duck farms on Long Island.

      GCM

  7. Let’s not forget the Canadian football league Montreal Alouettes! Larks, in English (family Alaudidae).

  8. This was a fun batch, thanks!

    There’s also the Baltimore Ravens (NFL) named in recognition of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem; he was a Baltimore resident when he wrote the poem.

  9. And in honor of our President, let’s not forget U of Delaware’s Fightin’ Blue Hens!

    Thanks for another terrific photo set.

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