Monday, January 30, 2006

Seahawk = Steller's Sea-Eagle?

I just learned from 10,000 Birds that a 'Seahawk', as in the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL in the Super Bowl, is a colloquial term for an Osprey. And all this time I thought it was simply some mythical composite bird.

But really, look at this bird - does that look like an Osprey to you? The bill is way too big, not to mention the colors are all wrong. I'm thinking it's more like a Steller's Sea-Eagle. Certainly as a football team mascot, Steller's is more fearsome, even making the Bald Eagle look like a runt.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope I'm right!

Actually, I agree with your observation regarding the look of the seahawk. The bird looks more like an eagle, but my research concluded that the Seattle team (along with other sports Seahawks) honors the osprey.

Eric said...

Yeah, I've come across other sources that say the same thing, that the Seahawk is meant to be an osprey. Besides, it's catchier than "Seattle Steller's Sea-Eagles".