Harris's Hawk

Parabuteo unicinctus (Temminck, 1824)

≈56 cmLength110 cmWingspan850 gWeight

The adult is dark brown with chestnut scapulars and thighs, a white tail tip and yellow legs.

Most records: United States, Argentina, Chile

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Adult dark brown overall
Adult scapulars, underwing coverts and thighs chestnut
Tail feathers white at both base and tip
Legs long; legs and cere yellow

Male, female and young

Female larger than male; juvenile paler, with pale yellow markings, but still shows chestnut.

Voice

Calls are very grating.

Where and when it's recorded

Most records: United States, Argentina, Chile

Harris's Hawk has been recorded at 488 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 22 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Santa Ana NWRUnited States10,685 records
Estero Llano Grande SP WBCUnited States10,084 records
Reserva Ecológica Costanera SurArgentina9,464 records

More places

Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission)United States5,215 records
Sweetwater WetlandsUnited States4,997 records
Laguna Atascosa NWRUnited States3,836 records
King Ranch – Norias DivisionUnited States2,545 records
Resaca de la Palma SP WBC (Brownsville)United States2,336 records
Reserva Ecológica Ciudad Universitaria - Costanera NorteArgentina2,103 records
Choke Canyon SP – Calliham Unit (McMullen Co.)United States1,895 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United States Argentina Chile Peru Uruguay Mexico Venezuela Ecuador

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

Parabuteo unicinctus is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile, central Argentina, and Brazil. It contains two subspecies, the Harris's hawk (P. u. harrisi) and the bay-winged hawk (P. u. unicinctus). The species is also occasionally referred to as the dusky hawk and known in Latin America as the peuco.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Harris's Hawk?

The Harris's Hawk is about ≈56 cm long, with a wingspan of 110 cm and weighs around 850 g.

Where does the Harris's Hawk live?

Its breeding range: North America, Middle America, South America: southwestern USA to southern Argentina and Chile. It is most often recorded in United States, Argentina and Chile.