1st year Harris's Hawk Photo by George Wall

How many hawks (Accipiters and Buteo-like) do we have in the United States? The Accipiters are the Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s and the Northern Goshawk. The Buteo-like are the Common Black-, Harris’s, Gray, Zone-tailed, Red-shouldered, Broad-winged, Shorttailed, Swainson’s, White-tailed, Red-tailed, Ferruginous and Rough-legged. The Roadside and Crane Hawks have ventured up from Mexico into the U.S. at times, but are not naturally here. Of these hawks, the one I’m focusing on this month is the Harris’s Hawk.

Description: These hawks are long-legged, bulky body with broad wings and tail, but the wings are short and the tail is long with a white tip. Overall, they are 18-23”. They are dark brown with rufous wing coverts and with white around base of the tail. They have a yellow cere.

Territory: This is a western hawk and its territory covers southern and central Arizona, southern New Mexico and Southern Texas.

Diet: They feed mainly on small animals like rabbits and other small prey like snakes captured in brushy areas. In fact, the one pictured above was after a rabbit that was in a bush by my fountain. The rabbit escaped.

Nesting and Breeding: They nest in large trees and build their nests high which are made of sticks, twigs and whatever else they can find and then line it with softer material like grass, leaves and bark. Polyandry is common and about 50% have trios in their nest. They have 3-4 eggs with about half white-bluish white and half marked with browns or lavender. If food is abundant, they may have 2 broods.

Unusual Characteristics: They are unusual in that they will hunt in pairs or groups and they tend to be very social. Most other hawks are loners and have a specific territory that they share with their mate.