February 2015: Bird Mascots

Hey bird lovers! Welcome to Caitlin’s Corner, part of The Art of Birding! This month is February, and you know what that means…the Super Bowl is upon us! I know it truly is because the big game is actually the first day of this month. In celebration of the NFL, we will be delving deeper into the teams who have a bird names and mascots. Let’s take a look:

· Atlanta Falcons: Schoolteacher Julia Elliott I’m sure was a proud birder. In 1965, there was a contest to find the name for this football team, and though the Falcons was a popular name among the people, she gave a great explanation on why it would work. Elliott characterizes the falcon as proud with courage to fly above the others and can be deadly to its prey, which would be the other football teams. So you better watch out if the Atlanta Falcons come to town!

· Philadelphia Eagles: This team thought up their name from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that he established. In this deal there was the National Recovery Act, its symbol the eagle that we now can find the Philadelphia Eagles using to represent their team today.

· Arizona Cardinals: I’m a little let down with this bird-named team, because as it turns out, they were not named after the bird, but rather the color scheme. When the owner bought maroon jerseys, which turned out to be “Cardinal Red” after he did so, the name was born.

· Seattle Seahawks: Similar to the choosing of the name for Atlanta Falcons, the Seattle Seahawks chose their name from a public contest with tens of thousands of entries. Clark McMillan had the idea of the Seahawks, which rightly fits the team. Also, it is alliteration in the name, which the other bird teams in this article fail to have, so go team!

· Baltimore Ravens: Ok, so this has to be the coolest way a team got their name ever, just saying! In a past Caitlin’s Corner article, I discussed a poem by the famous Edgar Allan Poe titled “The Raven”. Poe had actually spent his time in Baltimore writing this renowned work. So, when there was a needed name for a new football team, the Ravens was the most popular pick by the fans. Today, there are three mascots, which are all different cartoon ravens: Edgar, Allan, and Poe. I have to give this team points for supporting literature! I hope more teams connect sports to other cool ideas like they did in the near future.