Celebrate owls with us on this #InternationalOwlAwarenessDay! This commemorative holiday is meant to raise awareness and spread knowledge of all of the birds in the owl family.

Did you know that there are over 220 recognized species of owl in the world? The smallest owl is the Elf Owl of North America; the largest owls are the Eurasian Eagle-owl and the closely related Blakiston's Fish Owl. You can find two of these species among our Birdorable collection of 13 owls.

Happy International Owl Awareness Day! What is your favorite species of owl?

The Ridgway's Hawk is a Critically Endangered bird of prey endemic to the island of Hispaniola. Since 2002, the Ridgway's Hawk Project has been fighting to save this species in the Dominican Republic. The program involves several components, including research, assisted dispersal, and education.

The town of Los Limones is located outside of Los Haitises National Park, where the Project has been working with the community for almost 20 years on Ridgway Hawk conservation. As a part of the Project's outreach, a local youth baseball team was named Los Gavilanes, to honor the species, Gavilan in Spanish. Friends of the Ridgway's Hawk Project donated uniforms to the kids, which feature a Birdorable profile image of the namesake species!

From our friends at the Proyecto Conservación del Gavilán de La Española, we would like to share these photos of Los Gavilanes baseball team.