Harris's Hawk

About the Harris's Hawk

Harris's Hawk is the handsome dark hawk of the South Texas brush country - chocolate-brown with rich chestnut shoulders and thighs, a white rump and white-tipped tail, and long yellow legs. Sitting upright on a mesquite, a utility pole, or a tall yucca, it is unmistakable.

It is the most social raptor in North America. Harris's Hawks live in family groups that hunt cooperatively like wolves - one flushing a rabbit while others cut off its escape - and they perch stacked on top of one another on a single post, a behavior called "back-standing." Groups nest and raise young together, with older offspring helping. Their intelligence and sociability have made them the favorite hawk of falconers worldwide.

In Texas, Harris's Hawk is a year-round resident of the brush country from the Rio Grande Valley north to the Coastal Bend and west through the Trans-Pecos, easy to find along Valley roadsides and refuges.