Monday, June 14, 2010

Name the Kestrel Contest - Winners!

Conservation Halton is thrilled to announce that our young American Kestrel finally has a name to call his own— “Bean”! It was one of the most popular submissions we received during the contest, and Raptor Centre staff agree that the name— short, sweet, and cute— suits this little bird’s personality perfectly. Additionally, since the United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and with the Biodiversity Education and Awareness Network (BEAN) supporting the naming suggestions, it was a perfect fit!


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!