Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Harris Hawk


Harris Hawk
The Harris hawk is a medium sized raptor found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America and parts of South America. Most of the Harris hawk's habitat is dry and desolate, so they have adapted some behaviors that are not typical to other raptors. Since their is not typically a lot of prey in their habitat, they eat primarily mammals, Harris hawks hunt in packs, like wolves or lions. Often one or two birds will chase the prey to where others are waiting in ambush. These packs usually consist of a family group of 2 to 5 birds. Since there are not many trees in many parts of their habitat Harris Hawks will often stack, with one bird perched upon the back of another.



6 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

HELLO, HANDSOME!
ROG, ABCW

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

A fine captured image and info.

Black Jack's Carol said...

Lovely in-flight shot and most interesting info! Hunting in a pack and stacking, one upon the other, are fascinating behaviours! We saw a hawk today that I couldn't identify. I wondered if it was a Merlin, but now, though we certainly did not observe those behaviours, I'm wondering if it could have been a Harris Hawk.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Absolutely brilliant, I have a Master Falconer friend who happens to have one as his main hunting pal named Tara~

Trubes said...

HOW absolutely interesting...sounds like the proto-type
of the Space Shuttle,
Thanks for sharing this with us, wonderful photography,

Best wishes,
Di,
ABCW team.

Unknown said...

Wonderful bird, like they all are in my vision

Have a nice weekend,
Melody (abc-w-team)