Harris's Hawk
Parabuteo unicinctus
Also known as: Harris' Hawk
Habitat
Ground
Diet
VertFishScav
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
850 g
About This Species
A distinctive desert and scrubland raptor of the southwestern United States through South America, notable for hunting cooperatively in small family groups rather than alone. Look for its chestnut shoulders and thighs against dark plumage, often perched on a cactus, pole or low tree watching for rabbits and ground squirrels. Groups are most active hunting in the cooler hours of morning and late afternoon, particularly outside the summer heat.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep a respectful distance from perched or hunting birds, since flushing a hunting group wastes the energy invested in a coordinated stalk.
- Raptors and their nests are protected under federal law in the United States, while protections elsewhere in its range vary by country, so treat nest sites as off-limits regardless of location.
- Watching from a vehicle along a road is often the least disruptive way to observe hunting behaviour in open desert terrain.
LCAvesAccipitriformesAccipitridae
Seasonal Activity
337,864 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
Traits
- Diet
- VertFishScav
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 850 g
Photo
(c) Javier González, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Javier González
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.