[3] The black-and-chestnut eagle is a typical forest raptor, hunting primarily small to medium-sized mammals and birds and constructing a large nest in a tall tree.

[10] As an adult, this species is glossy black on the head and the back and a rich and somewhat streaky chestnut on the underside, much of the wing secondaries and even on its legs.

The black-tipped white feathers on the wing primaries contrast strongly with the chestnut secondaries and underwing coverts.

Adult black-and-chestnut eagles have orange-yellow eyes and yellow bare parts but for the somewhat proportionately small gray bill.

[6] Nest building is February and March, laying eggs in April and May and fledgling young by August and September.

Main prey is usually small-to-mid-sized arboreal mammals including red-tailed squirrels (Sciurus granatensis), opossums (Didelphis sp.

[16][17] Black-and-chestnut eagles sometimes hunt chickens, including standard-sized adults, which has caused some persecution of this endangered species.

One small dietary study was conducted in Colombia, however, found that chickens made up 14.7% while wild Andean guans were much more frequently taken, making up 53.9% of the diet.

One exception is the similarly sized solitary eagle, which preliminary reports suggests mostly hunts snakes, whereas the black-and-chestnut eagle seems to prefer birds and small-to-mid-sized mammals, and the two species were observed flying near each other without aggression in southeastern Peru since prey partitioning appears to allow them to co-exist.

[19] One species seen to be aggressively displaced by the black-and-chestnut eagles here was the turkey vulture, possibly because they sometimes steal eggs from bird's nests.

[19] It is found in humid montane forests, normally at elevations between 1,800 to 2,500 m (5,900 to 8,200 ft), in the Andes from northern Argentina, through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, to Venezuela, with isolated populations in the Venezuelan Coastal Range, Serranía del Perijá and Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

[17]The black-and-chestnut eagles are a control species because they help to maintain the balance of ecosystems by hunting other animals for food(Nest Discovered in Argentina Reveals Potential Human–Predator Conflicts).