However, there were many other submissions that deserve recognition—submissions that were touching, humorous, or downright appropriate. Notable runners-up were “Captain Jack Sparrow” (another popular suggestion, with key points being the American Kestrel’s colloquial name of ‘sparrow-hawk’, the association between pirates and being blind in one eye, and the dark eye markings around the eyes being reminiscent of Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean), “Hathaway” (after a classic advertisement with a man wearing an eyepatch), and “Horus” (after the Egyptian falcon-god). Staff favourites include “Polyphemus” (both a Cyclops in Greek mythology and a beautiful moth), “Amadeus” (From Falco’s hit “Rock Me Amadeus” and tied in with the kestrel’s latin name “Falco sparverius”), “Hawkeye” (after Alan Alda’s character in M*A*S*H) and “Fortinbras” (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet).
Winners have been contacted individually to arrange their Raptor Centre tours. If you submitted one of the winning names above and have not heard from us, please check your spam filters and email raptorcentre@gmail.com to let us know. In the meantime, those who entered the contest are invited to download a printable Certificate of Participation as a heartfelt “thank you” from all of the staff and birds at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre.
Click here to download your Certificate of Participation!
See you on the trails!
