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Young Harris’s Hawks Gripped Pine Cones Like Prey

Harris's hawk perched in a leafy tree in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Research · Behaviour

A pine cone might serve as practice prey for a young bird of prey. In Argentina, two juvenile Harris’s hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus) were seen pulling cones from pine trees, carrying them away, then gripping and tearing at them with movements resembling those used to handle live prey.

The first bird was observed in the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires on 6 June 2025, and the second in Luján on 11 March 2026. Both followed the same sequence: after resting for several minutes, the hawk flew up into a pine tree, struck a cone loose with its talons and carried it to a new perch.

There it held the cone with one foot and worked at it for about five minutes. Its gripping and tearing movements resembled those used to restrain and pull apart prey. Eventually, the bird dropped the cone to the ground and stayed in the tree, calling.

Object play is known in several young raptors. Captive Harris’s hawks have also handled objects in problem-solving tasks, while wild juveniles have been seen chasing insects and jumping between branches. The authors describe the pine-cone observations as the first published records of possible play with inanimate objects in wild Harris’s hawks.

The researchers suggest that the birds were either exploring their surroundings or practising movements needed to grasp, control and eat prey. Two observations cannot settle what the cones were being used for, but the matching behaviour offers a glimpse of how young raptors may develop their skills.

Sources and image credit

  1. Lorenzi, J. E., Casale, A. I., & Borgnia, M. (2026). Manipulación de objetos inanimados en juveniles de Gavilán Mixto (Parabuteo unicinctus) en ambientes urbanos de la provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nuestras Aves, 71.Primary peer-reviewed article published 11 September 2026. Full three-page article checked. It reports two juvenile Harris's hawks, observed in Buenos Aires in June 2025 and Luján in March 2026, showing nearly identical pine-cone manipulation sequences lasting about five minutes.

Image: Juvenile Harris's hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) in City Bell, La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, photographed 11 January 2023. Photo: Fernando Archuby. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative juvenile from the same province; not one of the study birds. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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