Parabuteo unicinctus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Parabuteo unicinctus is a medium-large bird of prey that breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile, central Argentina, and Brazil. The species is also occasionally referred to as the dusky hawk and known in Latin America as the peuco.
Harris's hawk is notable for its behavior of hunting cooperatively in packs consisting of tolerant groups, while other raptors often hunt alone. Harris's hawks' social nature has been attributed to their intelligence, which makes them easy to train and has made them a popular bird for use in falconry.
The name is derived from the Greek para, meaning beside, near or like, and the Latin buteo, referring to a kind of buzzard; uni meaning once; and cinctus meaning girdled, referring to the white band at the tip of the tail. John James Audubon gave this bird its English name in honor of his ornithological companion, financial supporter, and friend Edward Harris.
Robert Ridgway placed Harris's hawk in its own new subgenus Urubitinga (Antenor) in 1873, and introduced the generic name Parabuteo in 1874. Richard... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Palmar National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 6 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | Machalilla National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 9 | Santa Rosa National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 11 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 12 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 14 | Bahía de Loreto National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 15 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 16 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 3 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 5 | Mendoza | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Quito | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 7 | Santiago | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 8 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 9 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Arequipa | 🇵🇪 Peru |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Harris' Hawk sighting in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas on a given day, based on 154 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 142nd most-seen of the 308 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Harris' Hawk in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas on a given day, against under 5% in May, July and November–December, the lowest months. Those are among Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in January. January to April have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Harris' Hawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Harris' Hawk sightings, Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in El Palmar National Park (Argentina, about 40%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Harris' Hawk that you can see in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Roadside Hawk (about 70%), Great Black-Hawk (about 70%) and Black-collared Hawk (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Harris' Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (154 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
