A member of the search party in Primrose Hill on Saturday

ZOOKEEPERS were making unexpected house calls in Primrose Hill last week as they tracked an escaped hawk to the gardens in Chalcot Square.

Tony the Harris Hawk, a species native to central and south America, went missing during a free-flying session at London Zoo last Friday, blown off course by a blustery gust and then spooked by a murder of crows guarding a nest.

He was found on Sunday after being spotted by a local birdwatcher in a north London garden.

The New Journal saw the search party in Primrose Hill on Good Friday, where they were using a handheld aerial to track Tony down – despite a contrary tip off from passersby who had spotted him flying south from Camden Town while they ate at Poppies Fish & Chips.

He was still missing two days later, when London Zoo issued a notice to birdwatching forums urging twitchers to look out for him.

“Zookeepers have not picked up a telemetry signal since a sighting in Camden 48 hours ago”, it said, adding that Tony tends to stay up high in trees or rooftops but might swoop lower if hunting for food.

Have you seen Tony? A notice to bird watchers

Zoo staff in Primrose Hill trying to track the missing bird

This is not the first time birds have gone missing from London Zoo.

In October 2024, blue-throated macaws Margot and Lily made a break for it and were found more than a week later in the Cambridgeshire treetops, some 60 miles from their home in Regent’s Park.

They were wooed back into the arms of their handlers with pumpkin seeds, pecans and walnuts.

The handheld aerial used to try and locate Tony

An even more unusual escapee was a Northern Bald Ibis in 2022, who got out through broken mesh in the zoo’s aviary and flew as far as Jamestown Road.

In January 2018, a butcher in Kilburn High Road was surprised to find a Caracara bird of prey, native to the Falklands, in his shop after being on the loose for ten days.

The same bird – named Louie – then escaped 18 months later during a display.