It is a threatened endemic of Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the eastern Indian Ocean.

In the 2004 national recovery plan for the taxon it is treated as a subspecies of the brown goshawk, though the possibility has been raised of elevating it to the species level again.

Colouration is broadly similar, differing in that the hindneck, cap and ear coverts are dark grey, lacking a brown tinge.

[1] The goshawk feeds on a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates, including birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.

About 20 minutes afterwards a robber crab was seen approaching the goshawk and dead chick, and after a tug-of-war lasting approximately 8 minutes the raptor retreated, allowing the robber crab to successfully steal the carcass and escape with it into a hole under a log.