Viral 'bird caller extraordinaire' announces Atlanta Hawks schedule

Basketball fans kicked off the summer with a monumental win by the New York Knicks to take home the NBA national title for the first time since 1976. Now, it's already time to start preparing for another season.

The National Basketball Association will kick off the 2026-2027 with a triple-header on Oct. 20. The Boston Celtics take on the Detroit Pistons, followed by the Philadelphia 76ers (now with Lebron James Sr.) stepping up against the champion New York Knicks, and ending with Oklahoma City Thunder facing the San Antonio Spurs.

In Atlanta, the Hawks are getting ready for the preseason games starting at the beginning of October. The team's first regular season game will be played on Oct. 21 against the Orlando Magic (the team that joined them in the Magic City Monday controversy from last season).

Each year, professional sports teams try to come up with unique and creative ways to announce their upcoming schedules, and the Hawks decided to lean into their mascot and call on a bird aficionado to help them out.

Samuel Henderson, a 12-year-old boy with autism, recently took the internet by storm when he showed off a special talent of being able to accurately recreate the calls of dozens of bird species from around the world.

A TikTok posted on an account run by his mother, Lori, in July gained more than 28.5 million views, and a previous video showing Henderson share his skill at a school talent show in May has more than 42 million views as of Aug. 14.

"Two years after his first ever talent show, Samuel came back to where it all started. Some new birds and some of the familiar bird calls this time. It was a farewell to intermediate school," Lori wrote in the video's caption.

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On Thursday, when the Atlanta Hawks dropped their upcoming NBA schedule, Henderson appeared on the Jackson Street Bridge in Atlanta with a collection of bird stuffed animals, each representing an upcoming Hawks opponent. The team called him a "bird caller extraordinaire."

"The Hawks schedule just dropped today, so I'm going to do their opponents as birds," Henderson said in the video, before putting his head back and releasing a loud hawk screech.

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Here's a list of the bird calls Henderson shared:

• Rock pigeon (New York Knicks)
• Bald eagle (Washington Wizards)
• Herring gull (Los Angeles Lakers)
• American crow (Boston Celtics)
• Canada goose (Toronto Raptors)
• American Flamingo (Miami Heat)
• Common loon (Minnesota Timberwolves)
• American white pelican (New Orleans Pelicans)
• Northern cardinal (Cleveland Cavaliers)
• King penguin (Philadelphia 76ers)

Irene Wright covers Atlanta sports teams as the Atlanta Connect reporter with USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. Find her on X @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral 'bird caller extraordinaire' announces Atlanta Hawks schedule