About

Harvey the Hurricane Hawk is the nickname given to a Cooper's hawk that flew into Houston cab driver Willam Bruso's car during the approach of Hurricane Harvey along the coastline of Texas in late August 2017. After Confederate flags were spotted in the background of video updates about Harvey's condition, many online labeled Bruso a Milkshake Duck.

Origin

On August 25th, 2017, Houston cab driver William Bruso uploaded a YouTube video of a Cooper's hawk in the passenger seat of his taxi, speculating that the bird was seeking refuge from the hurricane (shown below).

Spread

Over the next 24 hours, Bruso uploaded several update videos to YouTube about the status of the bird, nicknaming him "Harvey the Hurricane Hawk" (shown below). The following day, Bruso handed the hawk over to the TWRC Wildlife Center (shown below, right).

On August 27th, the TWRC Wildlife Center uploaded a video revealing that Harvey had suffered a broken wing preventing him from flying and asked for donations to help the center care for various animals during the storm (shown below).

Confederate Flag Controversy

In the comments of Bruso's 5th update video, many YouTubers pointing out several Confederate flags in the background (shown below). In a thread posted to NeoGAF^[1] on August 27th, many users began referring to Bruso as a "Milkshake Duck".

In a YouTube comment, Bruso responded to the criticism by saying "I fly my Texas, Gonzales (Come and Take It), Don't Tread on Me, Confederate Dixie, and United States flags very proudly and very unapologetically" (shown below).

That day, the conservative news site The Daily Wire^[2] published an article titled "Internet Leftists Destroy Touching Hurricane Hawk Story Over Rescuer's Confederate Flag."

Search Interest

External References