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February 6, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Seattle heads back to the Super Bowl. What even is a seahawk anyway?<\/p>\n Many different bird species have been affiliated with the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 mascot, but none is technically a \u201cseahawk\u201d<\/p>\n By Jenna Ahart edited by Andrea Thompson<\/span><\/p>\n Blitz, mascot of the Seattle Seahawks, performs during the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Skills Showdown on January 30, 2025, at the UCF campus in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n Perry Knotts\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For the first time in more than a decade, the Seattle Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl\u2014but what exactly is the team\u2019s mascot? There\u2019s no one bird officially dubbed the seahawk, but a few different species have taken on the nickname. Meanwhile the team\u2019s imagery and live animals at events seem to portray different bird species entirely.<\/p>\n The history of the name dates back to 1975, when fans suggested the \u201cSeahawks\u201d appellation for the city\u2019s then-nameless team that would begin playing the next year. According to the government of Anacortes, Wash.\u2014a city north of Seattle that claims to be the original home of the name seahawk for its high school mascot\u2014the name arose as a nickname for the osprey because of its talons that are uniquely fit to catch fish. Ospreys go by other names, too, including river hawk and fish hawk, and they \u201cembark on these long, arduous journeys and have to survive a lot of obstacles,\u201d says Robert Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View Research Institute in Montana. \u201cThe Seahawks have had to survive and overcome lots of challenges and adversities to be able to make it to the Super Bowl, much like an osprey.\u201d<\/p>\n Skuas, large predatory birds from the North Atlantic, have been referred to as seahawks as well. This species is known for its broad shoulders and its habit of aggressively attacking other birds\u2014perhaps providing some inspiration for the team\u2019s players as Sunday approaches. Skuas, however, are not technically hawks, because they don\u2019t seize and grasp prey with their feet, Domenech says.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The Seattle Seahawks live mascot, an Augur Hawk, opens his wings on the sidelines during Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium on February 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J.<\/p>\n So do Ospreys or Skuas appear as the Seahawk mascot? The answer seems to be no: all different types of birds are used in the team\u2019s imagery. The blues and greens of the Seahawks\u2019 logo don\u2019t match either species, with some saying the art instead nods to the brightly colored ceremonial masks of Seattle\u2019s Indigenous communities. One ornithologist noted in 2015 that the logo looks strikingly similar to sea eagles, a group of birds including the bald eagle\u2014the mascot for the 2025 Super Bowl\u2013winning Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n A live bird named Taima can be seen at some Seahawks games, but he is in fact an Augur Hawk, which could be because it\u2019s illegal to use ospreys for commercial purposes. And finally, the Seahawks\u2019 official costumed mascot, Blitz, does have an online profile to go by, but he claims no species\u2014only that he\u2019s 6\u20191\u201d and loves reading, fitness and bird-watching.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 6, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Seattle heads back to the Super Bowl. What even is a seahawk anyway? Many different bird species have been affiliated with the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 mascot, but none is technically a \u201cseahawk\u201d By Jenna Ahart edited by Andrea Thompson Blitz, mascot of the Seattle Seahawks,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[4121,455,516,11453,22906,3687,1905],"class_list":{"0":"post-43957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-bowl","9":"tag-real","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-seahawks","12":"tag-seattles","13":"tag-super","14":"tag-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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