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Juvenile Harris’s Hawks Manipulated Pine Cones for About Five Minutes

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

Two juvenile Harris’s hawks (Parabuteo unicinctus) in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, were observed tearing pine cones from trees, carrying them to new perches and manipulating them with their talons. The observations, published on 11 September 2026, are presented by the authors as the first published records of wild Harris’s hawks manipulating inanimate objects in this way.

The first observation was made on 6 June 2025 in the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires, and the second on 11 March 2026 in Luján. In both cases, the sequence was strikingly similar. After resting for several minutes, the juvenile flew into the upper part of a pine tree, struck and detached a cone with its talons, then carried it to another perch.

Each bird manipulated the cone continuously for about five minutes. It held the cone with one foot and made gripping and tearing movements resembling the way Harris’s hawks handle live prey. The bird then dropped the cone and remained perched in the same tree while vocalising.

Object play is known from juveniles of several birds of prey, and captive Harris’s hawks have previously shown complex object manipulation in problem-solving tasks. Wild juveniles have also been reported chasing insects and jumping between branches, but the authors found no previous published account of wild Harris’s hawks manipulating an inanimate object for apparent play.

Because the same sequence was seen in two different juveniles, the authors suggest that it may reflect more than a single unusual event. They propose that the behaviour could represent general exploration, play, or practice of prey-handling movements such as gripping, controlling and tearing. The evidence is observational and based on only two records, so the study does not establish which of these functions is involved.

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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