The animal mascot favored by John McVie is the penguin.
McVie’s fondness for penguins helped inspire Fleetwood Mac’s 1973 album title Penguin, the band’s seventh studio album. The record followed Bare Trees and marked a transitional period: Danny Kirwan had left, while Bob Weston and Dave Walker joined the lineup.
The mascot connection was personal rather than a formal band emblem. During the early years of his marriage to Christine McVie, John lived near London Zoo, belonged to the Zoological Society, and reportedly spent hours watching and studying the penguins there. That fascination became part of Fleetwood Mac lore and was reflected in the album’s title and artwork.
The likely mix-up is with other bird names associated with rock imagery or album titles. Raven, swan, and albatross are plausible distractors, but none is the mascot specifically identified with John McVie. Penguin was released in March 1973 and remains the canonical answer.