Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, USA (B), Venezuela.
Range disjunct or incompletely known: north-western and north-central Mexico (from Baja California) and adjacent USA, south through Yucatán (not recorded in Belize) and Guatemala (including western highlands) to Panama, including Pearl Is. In South America, distribution incompletely encircles Amazon Basin: western Ecuador; central Peru, near Lima; northern Colombia (Sta Marta Mts to Magdalena) east through northern and south-eastern Venezuela to the Guianas and Trinidad; north, eastern and south-eastern Brazil (from Amazon Delta and I de Marajó, southern and east through Ceará, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Bahia to Paraná) west through Paraguay to northern and eastern Bolivia (Beni, Santa Cruz).
Population
Estimated population is 2,000,000 (2010).
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) [XC668607]
by Bobby Wilcox from Serra do Quengo, Usina Frei Caneca, Jaqueira, Pernambuco, Brazil (call)
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) [XC725493]
by Gregory Askew from Date Creek Ranch (Private), Yavapai County, Arizona, United States (call, flight call)
Subspecies
Populations from eastern Panama and South America sometimes awarded separate subspecies, abbreviatus, but not generally accepted.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet