This hawk has complex social relationships and often hunts cooperatively in small groups!

The Harris’s Hawk of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico often gathers in a ritualized manner on a single perch before heading out for a hunt. Several techniques are employed, including taking turns in long pursuits of running rabbits, flushing prey from cover while other hawks wait to complete the capture, and hawks approaching prey from both above and below at the same time. The hawks then all share in the kill.

Studies have shown that the success rates for capturing prey increase for every additional bird in the group, up to an optimal number of five birds.