Our Live Educational Ambassador BirdsPopay is a Harris Hawk. Popay is a great ambassador bird for discussions about the intelligence of animals and how different species live in different family-types. Harris Hawks live in matriarchal communities and are smart enough to work together to plan and carry out ambushes on rabbits and other prey! Popay is missing his left wing at the forearm and is a good example of the hazards wild animals face from humans and human infrastructure. Zike (pronounced Zee-Kay) is a North-East African species of hawk called an Augur Buzzard (other parts of the world call hawks "buzzards" but in the US we use the term as slang to mean a vulture.) Zike is a very large white and grey hawk, with a red tail, similar to our Red-tailed hawks. Zike is a great ambassador to talk about birds from other countries, and how they are alike and different from the birds we have here in the United States. Ace is a Sharp-shinned Hawk, the smallest species of hawk in the United States. This species of hawk feeds primarily on small songbirds and may be seen using a backyard bird feeder as its own feeder! Ace was found by the side of a road and was likely hit by a car. He is nearly blind and cannot see well enough to survive in the wild. Xhuuya (pronounced Hoo-Ya) is a petite sized raven. In many Native American cultures, Raven is either a trickster or a creator. For the Haida people of the Pacific Northwest, Raven is both a trickster and a creator and in this culture, one of Raven's personal names is Xhuuya. That is who our raven is named after. Her big stout bill is useful for eating fruit, berries and also as a lever arm for flipping over rocks and logs to get at bugs underneath. Her favorite foods include raspberries, red meat and fish. Luna is a large Great-horned owl. She is calm and a great off-site educational bird. Great-horned owls are top predator birds in North America, feeding on small and medium sized mammals. They are crepuscular, meaning they come out at dusk and dawn rather than strictly at night or during the day (nocturnal or diurnal). Luna was still in her nest when her tree was cut down. It may have been the fall that damaged her eyes and left her with visibility too poor to release back into the wild. Stormy is an Abdim's Stork, native to South Africa and surrounding areas. Abdim's Storks are the smallest species of stork in the world, however even a small stork is a big bird! In the wild, these big waterbirds feed primarily on large insects. They will also eat small rodents and baby birds if they find a nest they can raid. Forest is a Crimson-rumped Toucanet. Native to Columbia and Equador, these birds feed primarily on fruit (like their larger cousins, toucans). Forest was captive bred and hand-raised. Though he does not like to be touched, he is extremely calm around crowds! Our miniature chickens are Luzonica's "Petable" ambassadors. They do not bite and have very soft feathers! Our Bantam chickens are great ambassador birds for audiences that would like a chance to touch live birds. Most of our birds are either too shy or too dangerous to allow touching, but we have chickens that are very soft and very tame. Finches, Tanagers, Doves, Oh My! Our small and colorful songbirds can come to your classroom or educational event in a table-top flight cage. Our small birds are great ambassadors for discussions about specialized adaptations for feeding and nesting, as well as for discussions about birds from other parts of the world.