Animal
Harris's hawk
The Harris's hawk is a big brown hawk with long yellow legs. Harris's hawks often live in small groups. Two or three of them may hunt together, like a team.
The Harris's hawk is a dark brown hawk with reddish shoulders and thighs, long yellow legs and white at both ends of its tail. It lives from the southwestern United States to Chile and Argentina. It is more sociable than most birds of prey: two males and one female often nest together, and two or three hawks may hunt as a team.
Parabuteo unicinctus is a large, broad-winged hawk of open dry country, scrub and woodland from the southwestern United States to Chile and Argentina, from sea level to about 4,000 meters. It is a cooperative breeder that often hunts in groups. BirdLife International assessed it as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 2024, published 2024), with an unknown population trend.
Photo: Terry Ross from Corpus Christi, Texas, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Harris's hawk
The Harris's hawk is a big hawk.
It is dark brown with reddish shoulders. It has long yellow legs and a white tip on its tail.
The Harris's hawk is a large hawk, 46 to 61 centimeters long, with broad wings that stretch about 1 to 1.2 meters from tip to tip. It weighs 700 grams to 1.2 kilograms, and females are larger than males.
Its body is dark brown, with bright reddish-brown shoulders, wing linings and thighs. Its legs are long and yellow, and its beak is yellow at the base and black at the tip. The tail is black with white at the base and at the tip. Young birds are streaked brown underneath.
The Audubon field guide (adapted from Kenn Kaufman's Lives of North American Birds) gives a length of 46 to 61 centimeters, a wingspan of 1 to 1.2 meters and a mass of 700 grams to 1.2 kilograms, with the sexes alike in color and the female slightly larger. An Animal Diversity Web account (2003) gives average masses of 1,047 grams for females and 735 grams for males.
Adults are chocolate brown with rufous shoulders, wing coverts and leg feathers; the tail is dark with white upper and undertail coverts, a white base and a white terminal band (ADW; Audubon). The legs are long and yellow, and the bill has a yellow base and a black tip (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum). Juveniles are streaked brown below and have narrow tail bands; some dark Swainson's hawks look similar.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.46 to 0.61 m
- Wingspan
- 1 to 1.2 m
- Weight
- 0.7 to 1.2 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 14.9 years
Cactus deserts and brushland
Harris's hawks live in North, Central and South America.
Many live in dry deserts with big cactus and small trees.
Harris's hawks live from the southwestern United States through Mexico and Central America to Chile and Argentina. They are found mostly in open, dry country. In Arizona they are most common in deserts of giant saguaro cactus, and in Texas and New Mexico in mesquite brushland. They also live in woods along rivers.
They do not migrate, although they may wander widely when food is short. By the 1990s, some had started living year-round in the suburbs of southwestern cities.
The IUCN assessment lists the species as resident in Mexico, Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) and South America from Colombia and Venezuela to Chile and Argentina, and as breeding in the United States and Uruguay. It records the habitats as forest, shrubland and grassland, from sea level to 4,020 meters, and the species as not a migrant.
In the United States, Audubon's guide (Kenn Kaufman's 1996 text) describes river woods, mesquite, brush and cactus deserts: the hawk is most common in saguaro desert in Arizona and in mesquite brushland in Texas and New Mexico, and it had recently become resident in suburban areas of some southwestern cities. There is no definite migration, but groups and individuals may wander widely when prey is scarce.
Continents
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Open dry country, scrub, savanna, grassland and woodland from the southwestern United States through Mexico and Central America to Chile and Argentina, from sea level to about 4,000 meters; not a migrant. Panama and Suriname, where IUCN lists the species with uncertain origin, are not shaded.
Places: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador and 9 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica and 28 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Rabbits, rats and lizards
Harris's hawks catch rabbits, rats, birds and lizards.
Hawks in a group share big meals.
Harris's hawks eat many kinds of small animals. Common prey includes ground squirrels, rabbits, wood rats and kangaroo rats, and birds such as quail and woodpeckers. They eat big lizards where there are many, and sometimes large insects.
When the hawks hunt in a group, they can catch bigger animals, such as cottontail rabbits and jackrabbits, and the hawks often share a large catch.
Audubon lists small mammals, birds and lizards: ground squirrels, rabbits, wood rats, kangaroo rats, medium-sized birds such as quail and woodpeckers, large lizards where common, and sometimes large insects. Larger prey is often shared among the hunters.
The Animal Diversity Web account (2003) notes that group hunting lets the hawks take larger prey such as cottontails and jackrabbits, and that a hawk that makes a catch may mantle, spreading its wings over the prey to hide it from other birds. It adds that there is some evidence the hawks may eat carrion when food is scarce.
Did you know?
Sometimes one Harris's hawk stands on another hawk's back!
When perches are scarce, Harris's hawks sometimes stand on top of each other.
In 'back stacking', hawks stand on each other's backs when perching spots are scarce.
A team of hunters
Harris's hawks can hunt as a team.
One hawk chases an animal out of a bush. The next hawk catches it.
Harris's hawks are dashing, powerful hunters that chase prey in low flight, even through thick brush. Two or three often hunt together. If an animal escapes from one hawk, the next hawk may catch it.
Sometimes the hawks land and take turns scaring an animal out of its hiding place, until it runs into the open and another hawk grabs it. Falconers like Harris's hawks because of the way they hunt in groups.
Audubon describes a bird that may seem tame when perched but hunts actively in low flight, pursuing prey around bushes and thickets; two or three often hunt together, so an animal that evades one hawk may be caught by the next. The Animal Diversity Web account (2003) describes hawks landing and taking turns to flush prey from cover until another member of the group captures it, and notes the suggestion that dense, thorny brush encourages group hunting.
The Peregrine Fund notes that the species is popular in falconry because of its group hunting style. ADW also reports that group hunting and food sharing increase the survival of individual birds.
Listen to a Harris's hawk
Listen to the sound at the start of this page.
It is a real Harris's hawk calling in Argentina.
At the start of this page you can play a real recording of a Harris's hawk calling. It was recorded near the town of Abasto, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, in January 2021, and shared on ArgentiNat, Argentina's part of the iNaturalist nature-watching network.
Audubon describes the Harris's hawk's call as a low, harsh hissing sound.
The recording on this page was shared by the iNaturalist user abrub and is described simply as a call of Parabuteo unicinctus. The observation record places it near Abasto, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 22 January 2021, and the community rated it research grade.
Audubon describes the call as a low, harsh hissing sound, and the Animal Diversity Web account mentions hissing and alarm calls; helpers in a group give alarm calls when predators come near the nest.
Did you know?
Two dads may help one mom raise the chicks.
A Harris's hawk nest often has two males and one female, and both males bring food.
Nesting triads of one female and two males are common; both males provision the incubating female.
A nest with helpers
Harris's hawks build nests of sticks in cactus and trees.
The mother sits on the eggs. Other hawks bring her food.
Harris's hawks build bulky stick nests in small trees such as mesquite, in the arms of giant saguaro cactus, and sometimes on power-line towers. The female usually lays 3 or 4 pale bluish-white eggs and does most of the sitting for 33 to 36 days. Often two males help, bringing her food.
After about 40 days, the young move out of the nest to nearby perches. A pair may raise 2 or 3 broods in a season, and young from an earlier nest may help feed the next chicks.
Audubon reports that the species often nests in triads, two males mated with one female, all three cooperating at the nest. Nests are bulky stick platforms lined with twigs and grass, usually 12 to 25 feet (about 4 to 8 meters) up in a mesquite or paloverde or in the arms of a saguaro, and may be reused. Clutches are generally 3 or 4 (1 to 5) pale bluish-white eggs; incubation, mostly by the female, takes 33 to 36 days, and at nests with two males both bring food and take short turns on the eggs.
Young move to nearby perches after about 40 days. Adults may raise 2 or 3 broods a season, and young from earlier nests may help feed later broods; The Peregrine Fund says some young stay with the family for up to 3 years.
Living in groups
Harris's hawks often sit close together on poles and cactus.
Sometimes one hawk stands on another hawk's back!
Harris's hawks are often seen in groups of three or more, perching close together on poles or giant cactus. A group has a pecking order, with the breeding female at the top. Group members help find food, guard the territory and protect the nest.
When there are not enough perches, Harris's hawks sometimes stand on top of each other's backs. People call this 'back-standing' or 'back stacking'.
According to the Animal Diversity Web account (2003), groups are most often trios of two males and a female, and groups of four or five are not uncommon. There is a strict dominance hierarchy: the breeding female is dominant to all others, the breeding male to all other males, and subordinate birds are often the pair's juvenile young. All members help get food, defend the territory (0.2 to 5.5 square kilometers) and protect the nest; groups of 2 to 5 will harass a predator near the nest.
The Peregrine Fund describes 'back stacking', hawks standing on top of each other when perching spots are scarce. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum suggests the top bird may see farther and that open wings may shade the birds below, but these are ideas, not proven.
Did you know?
Falconers like Harris's hawks because they hunt as a team.
Harris's hawks are popular with falconers because of the way they hunt in groups.
The species is popular in falconry because of its group hunting style.
Common, but at risk on power poles
There are many Harris's hawks.
Some power poles have been made safer for them.
The Harris's hawk is listed as Least Concern. Experts estimated about 920,000 grown-up birds in 2020.
It has disappeared from some places, such as the lower Colorado River Valley, and people have tried to bring it back. Hawks can be killed by electricity when they perch on power poles and lines, and some power companies have insulated equipment and added safer perches.
BirdLife International assessed Parabuteo unicinctus as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 12 June 2024, published 2024): its range and population are very large and its trend is unknown. The IUCN text cites a Partners in Flight (2020) estimate of about 920,000 mature individuals worldwide, about 52,000 of them in the United States and Canada, and notes the species was found in three of seven wildlife-trade datasets evaluated by Donald and colleagues (2024).
Audubon reports that it has disappeared from some former areas such as the lower Colorado River Valley, with reintroduction attempts, and that illegal taking for falconry was a past threat. The ADW account (2003) names habitat loss, mesquite clearing in Texas and electrocution on transformers, with utilities reinsulating poles and adding perches.
IUCN Red List
How is the harris's hawk doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3
Amazing facts
-
Sometimes one Harris's hawk stands on another hawk's back!
When perches are scarce, Harris's hawks sometimes stand on top of each other.
In 'back stacking', hawks stand on each other's backs when perching spots are scarce.
-
Two dads may help one mom raise the chicks.
A Harris's hawk nest often has two males and one female, and both males bring food.
Nesting triads of one female and two males are common; both males provision the incubating female.
-
Harris's hawks may raise chicks two or three times in a season.
A pair may raise 2 or 3 broods in one season, and older young may help feed the new chicks.
Two or three broods a season occur, with young of earlier broods helping feed later ones.
-
Falconers like Harris's hawks because they hunt as a team.
Harris's hawks are popular with falconers because of the way they hunt in groups.
The species is popular in falconry because of its group hunting style.
Words to know
- raptor
- a bird of prey, such as a hawk, eagle or falcon
- cooperate
- to work together to do something
- flush
- to scare an animal out of its hiding place
- territory
- an area that an animal or group lives in and defends
- brood
- a group of chicks hatched and raised together
- falconry
- the sport of hunting with trained birds of prey
Discovery challenge
-
How do Harris's hawks often hunt?
What is special about how Harris's hawks often hunt?
Which hunting strategy is the Harris's hawk known for?
- Together as a team
- Underwater
- Only at night
Show the answer
Together as a team
They often hunt as a team.
Two or three often hunt together, so prey that escapes one hawk may be caught by the next.
Cooperative hunting: group members flush prey from cover for another hawk to catch.
-
What color are a Harris's hawk's legs?
What color are a Harris's hawk's long legs?
What color are the Harris's hawk's long legs?
- Yellow
- Blue
- Pink
Show the answer
Yellow
Yellow.
Yellow. The beak is yellow at the base too.
Yellow, as is the base of the bill.
-
Who brings food while the mother sits on the eggs?
Who brings food while the female sits on the eggs?
Who provisions the incubating female at a nest with two males?
- The males
- No one: she goes hungry
- Birds of another kind
Show the answer
The males
The males bring her food.
At nests with two males, both bring her food and take short turns on the eggs.
Both males provision her and take short incubation turns.
-
Where do Harris's hawks live?
Where do Harris's hawks live?
Which region makes up the native range of Parabuteo unicinctus?
- From the southwestern United States to Chile and Argentina
- Across Europe and Asia
- Only in Australia
Show the answer
From the southwestern United States to Chile and Argentina
In North, Central and South America.
From the southwestern United States through Mexico and Central America to Chile and Argentina.
The southwestern United States to Chile and Argentina (IUCN), from sea level to 4,020 meters.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Watch
Country
Mexico
Mexico is a large country in southern North America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It has smoking volcanoes, ancient cities built by the Maya and other peoples, and about 132 million people, many of them in and around Mexico City.
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Watch
Country
Argentina
Argentina covers most of the southern part of South America. The Andes mountains run down its western side, grassy plains called the Pampas spread across the middle, and windy Patagonia stretches to the far south. INDEC, the national statistics office, estimates that about 46.5 million people lived there in 2026, many of them in and around Buenos Aires.
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United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Mexico
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Argentina
Argentina covers most of the southern part of South America. The Andes mountains run down its western side, grassy plains called the Pampas spread across the middle, and windy Patagonia stretches to the far south. INDEC, the national statistics office, estimates that about 46.5 million people lived there in 2026, many of them in and around Buenos Aires.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how Harris's hawks hunt as a group.
- Explain how helpers take part in raising chicks.
- Identify the Harris's hawk's main field marks.
- Understand why power poles can be a risk for perching birds.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might hunting in a group help a hawk catch bigger prey?
- What jobs do the helpers in a Harris's hawk group do?
- How could power companies make poles safer for birds?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 1 to 1.2 meters with a tape measure to see a Harris's hawk's wingspan, then compare it with your arm span.
- Play a team game: one person hides a soft toy behind a cushion, others take turns 'flushing' and 'catching' it, then talk about how teamwork helped.
Key vocabulary: raptor, cooperate, flush, territory, brood, falconry
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Parabuteo unicinctus (BirdLife International, assessed 12 June 2024, published 2024) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Parabuteo unicinctus: population, habitat, ecology and threats text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Harris's Hawk (Guide to North American Birds, adapted from Kenn Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds) , National Audubon Society
- Parabuteo unicinctus (Truglio, M. 2003) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Harris's Hawk , The Peregrine Fund
- Animal Fact Sheet: Harris's Hawk (2008) , Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
- File:Harris's Hawk eyes me.jpg (Corpus Christi, Texas, 17 November 2008, Terry Ross) , Wikimedia Commons
- File:Pabuteo.flac (abrub, ArgentiNat, 22 January 2021) , Wikimedia Commons
- Observation 68470808: Parabuteo unicinctus, Abasto, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, 22 January 2021 (data record) , iNaturalist
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.