Meet Trucker, our beautiful Swainson's Hawk!When Trucker first arrived at the World Bird Sanctuary in 2004 he was sporting his juvenile plumage. To be sure, it was quite beautiful, and like any teenager he would often strut his stuff by displaying his full wingspan. However, these feathers would not be his permanent coloration.
While waiting for his adult plumage to grow in, he traveled with the staff of our Office of Wildlife Learning to school programs, where he wowed the audiences with the beauty of his juvenile plumage.
Even though his first feathers were quite handsome, his new adult plumage is something to behold! When you visit the World Bird Sanctuary look for the bird with the gorgeous mahogany brown feathers. If you're lucky, he may spread his wings and display for you.
2 comments:
We have an educational swainsons hawk also. She is excellent on the glove but can be very footy. I worked with another that was also that way. Is this just a common personality trait of this species?
His handlers tell me that Trucker is not footy at all, although he doesn't like going through doorways and tends to bait when taken through. Trucker is the only Swainson's that we have worked with in recent memory, so we have no other comparison. However, one of the handlers did work with a Swainson's at our children's zoo here and says that that bird was not footy either, so she doesn't think it's a species trait.
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