Editor note: For possible gyrfalcon sightings, call the zoo at 206.684.4880. Staff will also check voice mail.

SEATTLE - Woodland Park Zoo is again seeking the community’s help in searching for its 11-year-old gyrfalcon (juhr-fall-kon). The female bird of prey has been missing since Sunday when she flew from the zoo’s Raptor Center during a flight demonstration. The gyrfalcon was captive bred by a licensed breeder and has been at the zoo since she was 7 weeks old and is used in zoo educational programs.

“ We’re asking anyone who thinks they see the bird to contact the zoo if they spot a large gray bird not common to this area,” says zoo Animal Collection Manager Helen Shewman. People should look for a chunky raptor that appears larger than a football when perched, with a gray back and head, dark eyes, a wingspan of approximately 4 feet, yellow feet and a hooked beak. Her breast and belly appear very white from a distance. She is wearing 6-inch long white straps (known as jesses) hanging from each leg, and may have a thin wire radio antennae hanging on her leg.

People should also try their best to keep their line of sight on the bird. If anyone has a sighting, please call the zoo at 206.684.4880.

According to Shewman, birds occasionally fly off during a program, staying away for several hours and, on rare occasion, overnight. The birds are not trained to hunt and are accustomed to getting food from the keepers. The gyrfalcon has left zoo grounds for such a long duration one time previously.

Gyrfalcons range throughout the arctic regions of North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia. A powerful and agile hunter, falcons usually catch their prey, primarily birds, in the air. Gyrfalcons can live up to 25 years in zoos.

Accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, award-winning Woodland Park Zoo is famed for pioneering naturalistic exhibits and setting a standard for zoos all over the world. With conservation, education and excellent animal care at the core of the zoo’s mission, the zoo is helping to save endangered species in Washington state and around the world including tree kangaroos, snow leopards, red-crowned cranes, African wild dogs, western pond turtles and Oregon silverspot butterflies. By inspiring visitors and others to care and act, Woodland Park Zoo is making a difference in our planet’s future.