By Luisa Santos Martinez
Digital Marketing Manager, Audubon Rockies and Audubon Southwest
Published November 12, 2026
This article is from Audubon Southwest
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During my foraging walk through the desert landscape of Southern Arizona, a Harris’s Hawk flies over my head, spreading its long wings then landing on an ironwood tree. As I continue my path, I’m in awe of being so close to its presence.
Their dark brown feathers offer simplicity and beauty, contrasting with bright rufous markings on their thighs and shoulders, followed by a black tail with white at the base and tip, creating a desert dream.
In North America, this hawk stays in the Southwest year round, offering plenty of opportunities to see it in the desert among mesquite trees, saguaro cacti, rivers, and even some suburban areas.
Many birds of prey tend to be solitary predators, but Harris’s Hawks are unique in that they are highly social and often work cooperatively to hunt and nest, increasing their survival rates.
Considered “wolves of the sky,” these hawks can work in groups of two or more to flush out prey from areas while others intercept with an ambush for a successful hunt. Hunting together also allows Harris’s Hawks to target larger prey that can help sustain them during winter months, when small prey can be scarce. A meal that might have been harder to accomplish alone has now turned into a family feast.
It is often said that good friends have each other’s backs, and the Harris’s Hawks know it well. These hawks also exhibit a behavior called “back-standing”, in which they stand on the back of another hawk, sometimes with multiple hawks stacked one on top of another, making the group hard to miss.
The trust reflected within their hunting cooperation extends into the nests of Harris’s Hawks. These hawks nest in social units of up to seven hawks, where they support in defending, feeding, and raising their young. Instead of immediately moving out, older siblings also tend to stick around for a few years and take on babysitting duties before leaving the family group. At times, even unrelated hawks join the group, expanding the collective strength in their nests. The nest becomes more than a place to raise chicks; it becomes rather a shared responsibility in the form of resilience.
What seemed like just a solitary hawk perched on an ironwood tree during my walk, instead revealed multitudes of connections beyond what my eyes could see. Even some of the fiercest creatures of the desert survive not only by instinct, but by what happens when a pack comes together.
