Zookeepers during the search for Tony, which included the use of an aerial tracker

ZOOKEEPERS were making unexpected house calls in Primrose Hill 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 on Friday, blown off course by a blustery gust and then spooked by a murder of crows guarding a nest.

He was returned to the zoo on Sunday after being spotted by a birdwatcher in a north London garden.

Tony the Harris hawk

The Extra 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 passers-by 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, and added that Tony tends to stay up high in trees or rooftops but might swoop lower if hunting for food.

This is not the first time birds have gone missing from the zoo in The Regent’s Park.

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.

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

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 the nearby Jamestown Road.

In January 2018 a butcher in Kilburn High Road was surprised to find a Caracara bird of prey, native to the Falkland Islands, in his shop after being on the loose for 10 days.

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