Zone-Tailed Hawk

The zone-tailed hawk is another species I'd never heard of prior to planning for southeastern Arizona. Birds of the World notes that it is "widely distributed...[but] uncommon and patchily distributed, for reasons that are not well understood...Its habits and distribution is best understood in the northern part of the range and south of the U.S. and northern Mexico it is poorly known. It is one of the least known birds of prey in North America...[and] remains relatively unstudied." 

I first saw it in Miller Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. My guide, Jake, noted that it looks a lot like a turkey vulture on the underside and it often mixes with turkey vultures, which are scavengers, as a disguise to get close to prey. There were lots of turkey vultures in the trees in lower Miller Canyon. Studies have shown that it has a higher success rate in hunting among turkey vultures compared to when it hunts alone. 

This zone-tailed hawk was flying above Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary in the Huachuca Mountains.