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Hawkmoth is growing up!

Hey everyone! Its McKenzie from the World of Wild Theater, and I thought it would be a good time to give you all an update on Hawkmoth, our Harris hawk who was the star of our hawk naming contest earlier this year! Hawkmoth is now 9 months old and is starting to replace all his baby feathers with his much less stripey adult feathers. He is also growing into his adult vocalizations, which has been a bittersweet moment for all of us on his care team.

Now, to answer the question you are probably all wondering. When are you going to see him in action? Well, I can’t give you an exact date on that, but I can tell you that he is making a lot of progress! He is currently participating in voluntary weighing sessions every morning. He is also doing very well on going to different spots in his home when cued, as well as coming to the glove. The next step that I am working on with him is voluntarily kenneling. This is an important step, because once he has learned this we will be able to move him to different places around the theater and the Zoo to work on his flights between keepers. After this is done and we are confident in his ability to complete his routine in the theater, we will be able to start inviting different team members, and then guests, to come in and see him. At that point we will start working with him in animal presentations, and you will all get a chance to see him. As much as I would like to be able to tell you exactly when he will be premiering, we are working at making sure he is always getting the positive choice and control of his positive reinforcement training sessions that he needs to make sure he becomes confident. And that means he is getting to control how long this all takes. Just know that before long, you should finally be able to see the little hawk that you helped us out so much with naming!

McKenzie B.
Keeper III, Ambassador Animals

Connect With Your Wild Side #onlyzooatl