The Zone-tailed Hawk is found from the southwestern United States to Central and South America. In Suriname very rare migant to the interior.

Riparian forest and woodland, desert uplands, and mixed conifer forests

The nest is made from sticks and built in a tall tree or cliff. Female zone-tailed hawks lay one or two eggs per clutch. In the southwestern United States, these hawks are known to breed only once, but not much is known about their breeding habits in South America except that year-round residents breed only once. Young are semi-altricial at hatching, with grey down. The female parent incubates for about 5 weeks while the male parent collects food for the female and young. Growth is gradual to slow during first 7 days; from days 7-21, growth is rapid. Cases of siblicide have been documented. Male and female hawks are very aggressive when guarding the nest. They are aggressively territorial when nestlings are present.

The diet of the zone-tailed hawk includes many small vertebrates (birds, especially passerines; mammals, especially ground squirrels and chipmunks; amphibians and reptiles, particularly the common collared lizard and crevice spiny lizard; rarely fish). Prey that is exposed and becomes conditioned to the harmless presence of turkey vultures is likely prey of the zone-tailed hawk.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 6,800,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 500,000-5,000,000 individuals (Rich et al. 2003). Global population trends have not been quantified; there is evidence of a population decline (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001), but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Northernmost birds mostly migratory but some individuals overwinter at North limit of range. In Panama, most birds migrants, but reports throughout year suggest a resident breeding population may have developed. Birds in South America have been claimed to be migrants from North, but species regularly breeds in Venezuela, and perhaps on Trinidad; status of birds further South requires confirmation.