[2][3] However, this convention was not followed by all taxonomists, with some citing differences in adult plumage and breeding ranges as evidence in favour of awarding each full species status.

[2] However, Clark (1999) suggested that these alleged hybridization events may have instead resulted from misidentification of juvenile or subadult black-chested snake eagles as adults of other species.

[4] However, a different molecular phylogenetic study by Wink and Sauer-Gürth (2004) found that the black-chested and short-toed snake eagles form a clade together with the bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus).

The eye is bright yellow-orange in colour, the bill horn-coloured and the legs pale grey and unfeathered below the thigh, as in other snake eagles.

However, seasonal movements have been recorded even in areas in which the species is considered resident, for example in Zimbabwe, where there is an influx of birds in the dry winter months.

It is sympatric with the brown snake eagle in much of its range, and the two species have been reported to nest in neighbouring or even the same pylon without apparent animosity.

A specimen collected from Morogoro in 1922 was found to have a pellet of rodent fur and a hissing sand snake in its stomach contents.

Anthropogenic causes of death in the species include the common threats of drowning, shooting, electrocution and collision with power lines.