Harris Hawk

We have had five Harris Hawks around for the past two weeks. Two of them were in our aleppo pine tree the other day and let me get up on the roof and fairly close for some photos -- as you will see below.

The Harris Hawk is a medium-large raptor whose range is from the southwestern United States south to Chile and central Argentina. Birds are sometimes reported at large in Western Europe, especially England but it is a popular species in falconry and these sightings almost certainly all refer to birds that have escaped from captivity. The Harris Hawk is unique because it hunts cooperatively in family groups while most other raptors hunt in solitary. 

Individual Harris Hawks range in length from 18 to 30 in and generally have a wingspan of about 3.6 ft.  The females are larger by about 35%.  They have dark brown plumage with orange shoulders, wing linings, and thighs. The white on the base of the tail is a dead give-away in flight. They have long, yellow legs. The vocalizations of the Harris's Hawk are very harsh sounds. Christine and I have been "scolded" by them on more than one occasion. 

The diet of the Harris's Hawk consists of small creatures including birds, lizards, and large insects, although mammals are they favorite prey. They nest in small trees, shrubby growth, or cacti. The nests are often compact, made of sticks, plant roots, and stems, and are often lined with leaves,  bark and plant roots. They are built mainly by the female. There are usually two to four white to blueish white eggs sometimes with a speckling of pale brown or gray. The nestlings start out light buff, but in five to six days turn a rich brown.

Since about 1980, Harris's Hawks have been increasingly used in falconry and are now the most popular hawks in the West (outside of Asia) for that purpose, as they are the easiest to train and the most social. In one of our favorite movies, the Clive Owen "King Arthur," one of his knights, Tristan carries a Harris Hawk with him (even though Harris Hawks were not present in Europe at the time of King Arthur). We have a wonderful dear friend that stays with us every year that tells us of a similar story in Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" where the opening scene is of a Turkey Vulture making a sound of a Hawk. Turkey Vultures don't make any sound at all. When she confronted Clint about this, his reply was "Darling, nobody will know the difference."

Very often, there will be three hawks attending one nest: two males and one female.  The female does most of the incubation. The eggs hatch in 31 to 36 days. The young begin to explore outside the nest at 38 days, and fledge, or start to fly, at 45 to 50 days. The female sometimes breeds two or three times in a year. Young may stay with their parents for up to three years, helping to raise later broods. 

Here are the latest photos: